Note 249 — Chapter XXXVIII
Reading edition
Nevertheless it is well not to be hasty in judgment. On the day on which this footnote was written, April 7, 1921, I find the following items in the Daily Mail. On page 4 the Attorney-General regrets that the law tolerates the "cruel practice" by which 30 pigeons were killed or injured at a certain pigeon-shooting competition and expresses inability to bring in legislation. On page 5, col. 2, an M.P. is reported as mentioning a case in which a puppy had been kicked to death and as asking the Home Secretary whether the law imposing imprisonment for a short term could not be strengthened. On the same page, col. 5, a railway porter is reported as having been fined for flinging three small calves into a farm cart by the tails.