THE REPORT OF THE SLAUGHTERING COMMITTEE.
SIR,—Among the editorial comments in your issue of July 30th there appeared a brief reference approving the Report of the Committee appointed by the Admiralty to consider the question of the more humane slaughtering of animals in- tended for food; but as I feel very strongly that the gravity of the case requires something beyond a passing comment, perhaps you will allow me to expand what you have already said, and will find room in your columns for this letter.
The Spectator has for many years been so uniformly well dis- posed towards the animal world that I had hoped that it would have taken advantage of the opportunity offered by the publica- tion of the Report in question to bring home to its readers as forcibly and explicitly as possible the crying need that exists for slaughter-house reform in this country. Only a very limited number of people read Blue-books, and if the Press is not in- sistent in directing attention to such matters, the public is very apt to "pass by on the other side," especially if the subject is as unpleasant as this is.
To ensure reform—that is to say, to prevent preventable cruelty—the prime necessity is to educate the thinking public to cultivate a due sense of proportion in considering the pains inflicted by man upon the brute creation. A lame horse between the shafts of a cab seldom lacks ardent sympathisers ; a host of champions—often fanatical champions—are ever ready to pro- claim the tortures which, so they allege, are undergone by the victims in experimental laboratories; but few people are to be found who realise that it is the calves, sheep, and pigs in the slaughter-house that have the first claim to our pity and, when necessary, to our intervention. The lame horse probably suffers nothing worse than discomfort ; the " brown dog" will be duly anaesthetised ; but the calf's throat may be cut in circum- stances that need not include the barest extenuation of suffer- ing. Is it not a curious product of our civilisation that the law forbids a well-educated and specially trained expert to give a guinea-pig a hypodermic injection in the interests of science, except under the most elaborate regulations, whilst it allows Tom, Dick, or Harry, without qualification or exception, to kill his beast as he lists, and without having to render account to a soul?
The Committee condemns, and as I think rightly condemns. the Jewish method of slaughtering oxen ; but as long as English people fail to insist that their smaller animals shall be killed as humanely as possible, they are not justified in criticising others. In favour of the Sews it must be said that under the Shecheta regime only skilful slaughtermen are employed, and knives are necessarily of an exquisite sharpness ; the Jewish authorities, moreover, have carefully investigated the subject, and, whilst keeping within the limits of a ritual which they hold to be essential, take certain precautions to avoid additional suffer- ing. We have no such excuse. We kill callously for no better reason than that it is the custom of the trade, and in the name of common humanity it behoves us to set our own house in order without a moment's delay.
It is hoped that one result of the Slaughtering Committee's Report will be the passing of an Act of Parliament making it illegal to draw blood from an animal without previously unsensing it by stunning, or otherwise; but even with the law in its present state much can be done by private endeavour. Urban authorities have powers which they are hardly familiar with, and they want stirring up to an appreciation of their responsibilities; and if con- sumers will only combine, they can easily compel their local butchers to adopt methods of slaughter that are less objectionable
—I am, Sir, &c., W. M. L.
[We gladly publish our correspondent's letter, and can assure him that nothing but the pressure on our space pre- vented us from dealing with the matter at greater length on a former occasion. We must add, however, that we cannot open our columns to a general discussion on this question, or on the point raised by " W. M. L." in regard to scientific ex-
Previous page
