19 AUGUST 1949, Page 18

HUMANE ERRORS

Sift,—Anything written by Sir William Beach Thomas should be read with due respect, but is he correct in stating that " the Ministry of Agriculture has no legal powers to make Orders based on humanitarian grounds " ? On what grounds, if not humanitarian ones, are such Orders as those affecting the transport of animals and the conveyance of live poultry—to name but two—based ? Orders such as these have served as examples of this country's humanitarian attitude to helpless creatures, and we cannot believe that they were ir•.cpired solely by utilitarian motives.

tos lerntyn Street, S.W.:. Chief Secretary, R.S.P.C.A.