Our present powers in regard to horse breeding are derived from the 1918 Act which was brought into operation in this country on the 1st January, 1920. Under this Act which we at present operate it is not an offence to keep an entire horse, but it is an offence to use that entire horse as a stallion for the service of mares, unless the entire horse is licensed. There are exceptions there. A stallion used by the owner for the service of his own mares is exempt, as is also a stallion registered in a stud book and used for the service of mares registered in a prescribed stud book, or other mares approved by the Department of Agriculture. These two classes are exempt. Apart from these two exceptions an entire horse used for the service of mares must be licensed.
The weakness of the present law is this—that a person may keep a stallion and claim that he is not using the stallion for service. We cannot bring a case against him unless we have proof that he is using the stallion for service. It is very difficult at present to bring such a case because the man is using the stallion for the service of the mares of his neighbours and friends and it is almost impossible to imagine that these would inform on him or give evidence against him so that we have really no way at present of dealing with these stallions that are unlicensed. A great number of them are unsound and unsuitable and they are doing a great deal of damage to the horse breeding industry in the country. The Department of Agriculture for some years past has spent a considerable amount of money on nominated mares, on the supply of good stallions to the country at half price and in giving loans to people to keep good stallions. In many other ways the Department has spent a great deal of money on the improvement of horse breeding in the country.
All that has been frustrated to a great extent by these unlicensed stallions. The present powers are ineffective and we are seeking in this Bill powers somewhat the same as we have over bulls and boars under the Livestock Breeding Act to prescribe that stallions cannot be kept unless they are licensed—with certain exceptions. There are exceptions. Where a stallion is registered as a thoroughbred, where he is used exclusively for the service of mares on the stud books he would be exempt. The reason for that is that there have been cases where stallions were used which had great records as racers and where their progeny were proved to have been so used. Still those stallions would not be passed by a veterinary surgeon. It would be anomalous under this Bill if we had to order to be castrated these very good stallions that were well known to be very valuable to the country. These are stallions from which we got very good stock. It would be a pity if we were compelled under the Bill to have such animals castrated. That is why they are exempt. It is also felt that stallions used exclusively for racing should be exempt. These two classes are exempt under the present Bill.
There is a provision in Section 15 for a system of permits. Where the owner of a thoroughbred stallion registered in the stud book would prefer to apply for a permit or exemption, it is open to him to do so under this Bill. Apart from that however, it will be an offence to keep an entire horse unless the horse is licensed.
The usual provisions follow in this Bill somewhat the same as we had under the Livestock Breeding Act. Application must be made before the prescribed date. The prescribed date is 31st December. If a person is forgetful or negligent and applies after the prescribed date there will be an increased fee because it is a very costly thing to send a special inspector out to examine a stallion where a late application has been made and we have prescribed here that an additional fee will be charged in such cases, from £5. It may be less. The amount however will be prescribed.
Another power which we are taking in this Bill is the limit of the area over which the stallion can be used. The reason why I mention this matter is because it was raised in the Dáil. Deputies wanted to know why this provision was put in. It is because we find in the Department of Agriculture that there are certain areas where it is necessary to license a stallion of not so high a standard as would be licensed in other parts of the country. In the poorer districts where mares are few and the fee is small we may get a person to keep a stallion that would not be altogether up to the standard. There it would be necessary, perhaps, to have that stallion for that particular district. If it were permissible for the owner of the stallion to use the stallion once licensed in any part of the State afterwards it would be possible for an owner to keep an inferior type of stallion that had been registered in a particular area. Afterwards that stallion could be got into an area where he would not be up to the standard required by the Department. We have power under the Bill to deal with those cases. That power would only be used in such cases as I have mentioned where a stallion below the standard would be licensed.
Where the usual notice is served to have a stallion inspected for licence, and where the licence is refused, the person is notified to have the stallion castrated. That is much the same as in case under the Livestock Breeding Acts. If the person takes no action we can under the Bill inflict the penalty. We may eventually prevent the keeping of such an animal up to the point of compulsory castration, and powers are taken in this Bill to have stallions castrated at the expense of the owners.
Under this Bill there is also a panel of referees. We find the same provisions in the Livestock Breeding Acts where we have a panel of referees, and the same provision was made in the 1918 Horse Breeding Act. We are continuing that panel. We are only making this change: Under the 1918 Act, when once we put a man on a panel he remained there as a life member. As a result the panel often became very large, because in some cases when a man got old and unfit for the work new men had to be put on, and the old members still remained on, though unfit for work. The old members in some cases became useless. For that reason we are proposing in future to have a panel only for three years. At the end of the three years the men who were not prepared to act are removed from the panel.