THE EXPORT OF HORSES TO BELGIUM.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—Miss Cole's letter in the Spectator of December 25th regarding the horrible and unnecessary sufferings endured by our nearly used up old horses when exported alive to Belgium for food will surely stir those who read it to do all they can to remove this blot on England's honour, for if England knows of these sufferings and permits them, is she blameless? During the war I heard many a Tommy in France express his profound regret that our horses would not return to " Blighty," for he had seen the treatment meted out to animals in that country. In a letter I received last year from an Australian officer he wrote : "Every one is glad to be back, but the home-coming of the Light Horse has been saddened by the loss of their horses; they had to leave them behind, lovely animals all, and rather than let them fall into the hands of the Arabs or Turks they shot their horses, from the general's to the trooper's. It was hard, was it not? " So much for the humanity of Australians. Are we in the Mother Country less merciful than they?
The R.S.P.C.A. has drawn attention to the present state of affairs, and is doing everything it can in the matter, but the remedy lies in the hands of the Government. It could make a plain demand for the proper treatment of our horses, and if the Belgian Government does not agree and insist upon humane killing at once of all horses received from us for food, the carcases only should be exported. If the horses are not fit to work for us they are not fit to work for Belgians. The R.S.P.C.A. contemplate a memorial to the animals that served us in the Great War. Surely there could be no more fitting memorial than the prevention of these cruelties which are at present endured by the horses that have served us well at
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