greatest benefactor to the cause of humanity the world ever had. But in a political view the subject is very important. We have a super-abundant population with a very limited territory, while each horse requires a greater quantity of land than would be sufficient to support a man. How extensive then would be the beneficial effect of withdrawing two-thirds of the horses and appropriating the land required for them to the rearing of cattle and to agricultural produce? The Liverpool and Manchester steam-coaches have driven 14 horse-coaches off the road. Each of the horse-coaches employed 12 horses-there being three stages, and a change of four horses each stage. The total horses employed by these coaches was therefore 168. Now each horse consumes, on an average, in pasture, hay, and corn, annually, the produce of one and a half acres. The whole. would thus consume the produce of 252 acres. Suppose, therefore, "every man had his acre" upon which to rear his family, which some politicians have deemed sufficient, the maintenance of 252 families is gained to the country by these steam-coaches. The average number in families is six, that is, four children, besides the father and mother.-The subsistence of 1512 individuals is thus attained.

ORGANIZED GANGS OF DOG-STEALERS AND

DOG-SKINNERS.

When the Bill for preventing the extension of canine madness comes before Parliament, we trust that what has been said on it in the first Number will have its due weight. One of the most important means was stated to be a TAX ON ALL DOGS, effectually to diminish their number; which would ensure their being taken care of. At present thousands of dogs in the streets of London are wandering at large, without owners, or belong to persons who cannot keep themselves; hence the origin of the system of dog-stealing, since converted into dog-skinning. We have twice visited Doubleday, the notorious dog-skinner, now confined in Cold Bath Fields Prison, and learnt from him that, at present, this is an organised system, attended with the least risk; and that there are many other master-curriers, beside Mr. Rout, of Coppice Row, Clerkenwell, to whom the skins could be readily sold, often at the price of 4s. and 4s. 6d. each. Dog-skinning has now become the regular trade of a class of men, of whom, in London, there are at least fifty leading characters, besides their spies and outposts. These fellows often assume the character of plasterers, carpenters, &c., and carry the very tools in their hands; or they hawk about oranges, hardware, and other articles for sale. They have dens in the neighbourhood of Whitechapel, Shoreditch, Tottenham Court Road, and Westminster; outposts at Greenwich, Ball's Pond, in Islington, Lisson Grove, and Paddington; also, a noted place on the right of the North Road, and a rendezvous in Long Acre. A piece of bullock's liver, boiled hard, to entice dogs, and a rope with a

noose to fasten round their necks and lead them away to be skinned, are the only requisites to embark in this trade. The periodical alarm of hydrophobia, and consequent order for the general destruction of dogs, produce to them an abundant harvest.

QUEEN-SQUARE, Jan. 12, 1831.-Mary Holland, Esther Wright, and Daniel Southerwood, were brought up for further examination, charged with having a number of dogs in their possession, supposed to be stolen. The Office was crowded by persons who had lost dogs.

Mr. Chapman, hatter, of No. 100, Great Peter-street, stated, that on last Christmas-eve he lost a valuable spaniel dog which he would not take £5 for. On Saturday evening last a woman informed him that his dog was at a house in a court in St. Ann's-street, Westminster. He instantly went there, and the prisoner Holland opened the door, and he found his dog; he asked her how she got it, but she gave him no answer; he immediately gave information to the Police. Payne, a police serjeant, of the B division, said that he went to the house and apprehended the female prisoners. They said they did not know where the dogs came from; he found about six dogs in the house. On making a search, he found the carcases of no less than fifteen dogs under the stairs, which had been skinned, and in another part he found a quantity of liver used by dog-stealears for enticing the dogs to follow them. The stench from the house was dreadful; and in the upper room there was a gallows and apparatus erected for killing the dogs. Under a bed he found also a cat-skin.

Robert Askum, a police constable, of the B division, No. 96, stated that he waited at the house while the last witness took the females and the dogs to the station-house, and in a very short time the prisoner Southerwood came to the house, bringing with him two fine little spaniels. He instantly took him into custody.

In answer to questions by Mr. Gregorie, serjeant Payne said that the house only contained two rooms, and was let at 2s. 6d. per week; from what he had heard, the house belonged to a gentleman at Shoreditch. He did not think it possible for any person to live in it, as it had more the appearance of a slaughter-house than any thing else.

The dogs were now brought into the office, and the greater part of them appeared to be very valuable animals.

Mr. John Palmer, of No. 13, Parker Street, Westminster, identified a very fine spaniel, which had been stolen from him last week.

Mr.J. Walter, of the New Cut, Fishmonger, identified a black dog. Mr. Thorne, a Brewer in Market Street, Horsferry-road, identified a dog which he had lost.

Serjeant Payne said that Mr. Hines, a livery-stable-keeper in Stangate Street, had identified a valuable pointer bitch, but business prevented him from attending that day.

Mr. Martin, a brush-maker, of No. 3, Middle-row, Knightsbridge, who chanced to be in the Office on some other business, identified his dog, which had been stolen some days ago.

There being more dogs to own, Mr. Gregorie ordered the prisoners to be remanded.

QUEEN-SQUARE, Jan. 25, 1831.-An old man, named Richard Barton, was placed at the bar, before Mr. Gregorie, charged on suspicion of having a number of stolen dogs and dog-collars in his possession.

It may be recollected that, last week, two women and a lad were apprehended at a house in a court in St. Ann's-lane, Westminster. A number of dogs, of every description, were found in the house, together with some skins; in the upper room was a regular gallows for hanging the dogs, for the sake of the skins; and in a cellar were found a number of dead dogs skinned. Since then the whole of the living dogs have been owned, and the parties remanded. The police constables have ever since been on the alert, and, from information received, it was suspected that a more extensive system of dog-stealing had been carried on than was at first imagined, and that the depot in St. Ann's-lane was only one of the branches of the establishment. A search-warrant was accordingly obtained, and put into the hands of Serjeants Payne, Walters, and Askums, of the B division of police; and they proceeded to the house of the prisoner Barton, at No. 5, Pettifield-court,- an obscure place, without a thoroughfare, leading into Drury-court, Strand. On the door being opened they found two women in the house; but the stench was so dreadful that it was almost impossible to enter the place. The constables were instantly accommodated with lights by the neighbours, who appeared pleased at the search, for the nuisance had become so great that it was wonderful a pestilence was not created in the neighbourhood. The constables found dogs in every room of the house from the cellar to the garret. The poor animals were most of them chained to the wall, and as thin as laths from starvation. Many of them had become so ferocious from hunger that they flew at the officers, and they were forced to send for assistance to the F division station-house, which was promptly rendered. Between twenty and thirty dogs were seized, and taken to the station-house of the B division in the Almonry, Westminster, followed by a crowd of persons. The poor animals were so weak that two of them died on the road, and several others were placed before the fire, unable to stand. Amongst the animals was a remarkably fine Newfoundland dog; but the bones were nearly coming through the skin; several beautiful spaniels almost starved to death-some of the Marlborough breed, and of considerable value; and also some bull-dogs. Between forty and fifty brass and leather dog-collars were produced, but the names which had been engraved on the brass were all scratched out, with the exception of two, and the names of "Maule" and "Minton" could, with great difficulty be deciphered.

226292B

Mr. Hancock, landlord of the White Hart, King's-road, Chelsea, identified a Newfoundland dog, which was stolen from him in November last. The poor animal was so wasted by starvation that it was only identified by a private mark on its side.

The servant of Mr. Mallison, of Queen-street, May-fair, identified a white terrier, which was stolen from his master about two months ago. Edward Collins, of 4, Tothill-fields, identified a Blenheim spaniel. Barton, in his defence, said he bought the Newfoundland dog and the terrier, and the spaniel he bred himself.

Mr. Gregorie said he should fine the Defendant £20 and the value of the three dogs, making in the whole £60, or order him to be imprisoned for eighteen months-six months on each charge. The worthy Magistrate also directed that, if the fines were paid, the prisoner should be brought before him again for stealing the dog-collars.

Grossmith, the inspector, said, that near 50 persons had been to the station-house to look at the dogs, and had been disappointed, among whom were several Noblemen who had lost dogs.

There are still remaining a number of valuable dogs to be owned.

HACKNEY-COACH OFFICE.

On Dec. 3, 1830, the hackney-coachman, No. 829, on Holborn-hill, was barbarously whipping one of the horses, which appeared hardly able to move. A gentleman passing at the time, found, on examining the horse, that the sides and shoulders were denuded of hair by the lash of the whip, and also that the skin, in several places, was quite raw. He took the number of the coach, signed a written charge, and sent it by a messenger to the Hackney-coach Office, Essex Street, Strand. The answer sent was, that he was to attend on the Friday following, between the hours of eleven and one, when the coachman would be produced; and that there was no charge for the summons. The case being fully proved against the coachman, they ordered that the Plate, 829, should no longer remain with the present proprietor, who used such miserable horses. The horse had been sold for a few shillings to a knacker, as soon as the summons had been received. But the most curious fact elicited was, this contrast to the inefficiency of the Act to prevent cruelty to cattle. The Inspectors of the Society had summoned the same coachman, on the same charge, occurring the day previous, Dec. 2, took the case to Bow Street, and paid for the summons. The coachman, as is usually the case, was not to be found; and the proprietor, to stop further proceedings, paid 3s. 6d. the costs. Thus the matter would have ended.

SIR,

101

LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS.

CRUELTY TO HORSES, AND CAUSES OF GIBBING.*
To the Editor of the Voice of Humanity.

May I request the favour of your powerful and humane aid in deprecating the inhuman and impolitic flogging which horses generally receive from their drivers; and, secondly, in animadverting on the barbarous and ridiculous treatment of horses, nick-named Gibbes.

The first grievance is so common that it is passed unnoticed, the minds of men being used to it. Here is the work to be done, and there the horse which must do it, or die in the attempt. The scourge is easily wielded, and the infirmities under which the poor animal may, even unknown to its tormentor, be silently languishing, are made up in the number and severity of the blows; though frequently, as with human beings who are suffering disease, exertion may cause the most acute pain, or may be altogether impossible. The savage and ignorant blockheads who drive them do not calculate that every blow they inflict, not only impairs the muscles, the very organs of the exertion they demand of them, but destroys their spirits and produces more fatigue than the work itself. It is well known that the less a horse be whipped the more he can work; and this fact is proved by the horses in Holland, which, being seldom whipped or ill-treated, perform excessive labour with comparatively very little fatigue. Let then this grand truth be impressed, that with horses, as well as with men, strength increases in the ratio of their happiness, and decreases as their misery increases; therefore he who expects much labour from his horse must endeavour to render it happy. A driver who continually applies the stimulus of the lash, instead of food, to his exhausted and half-starved beast, resembles a smith who continually blows his fire, instead of adding fuel; and the only good reason why the one continues to whip, and the other to blow, is that they are obliged to do it now because they did it before; the substance being nearly consumed, and the excitement of the little remnant being; therefore requisite even to produce the smallest effect.

*The definition of Gibbe is "any old worn-out animal." The cruelty inflicted upon those wretched, exhausted horses is certainly of the most atrocious character. Since this letter was sent, we saw a half-starved, wornout horse, in a cart filled with rubbish, making ineffectual efforts to get up a hill. One fellow took the bridle, and began flogging, while one or two others were flogging the legs, &c. The poor horse, being utterly unable to draw the load forward, pushed backward, and, as the flogging was increased in severity, began to kick. It was then by all pronounced a Gibbe-" an outlaw beyond the pale of mercy." We gave a carman, who was passing by, a shilling, to attach a horse, and help the wretched creature up the hill. None of the persons were summoned, as the case must have gone to the same police-office which just before dismissed a similar complaint, though it was proved that the horse had been sold to a knacker, the day before, for 16s.-ED.