Schechita, the Jewish method of slaughtering, was specifically exempt from the provisions of a prevention of cruelty to animals bill which passed its second reading in the House of Commons today. Similar exception was also made for the Mohammedan method of slaughtering.
Col. T. C. R. Moore, the author of the bill, made it clear, however, that these exceptions were only temporary. During the long debate on the bill, the Rev. G. Lang, a Labor member, demanded the bill be rejected because he opposed an exception for a certain category of the people. M. Marshall, also a Laborite, attacked schechita as “the absolute acme of cruelty and pain.”
On the other hand, T. Walter Guiness, a Conservative member, approved the exception for schechita saying that the Jewish method of severing the carotid artery had a quite different effect than ordinary slaughtering.
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