.......... 72
Wylde Green....... 6
Yarmouth .......... 201
Yeovil ............ 152
York .............. 130-1/2
~Dogs.~--A 5s. duty on dogs came into force April 5, 1867; raised to 7s.
6d. in June, 1878; This was not the first tax of the kind, for a local
note of the time says that in 1796 "the fields and waters near the town
were covered with the dead carcases of dogs destroyed by their owners to
avoid payment of the tax." The amount paid per year at present for "dog
licenses" in Birmingham is about L1,800. The using of dogs as beasts of
burden (common enough now abroad) was put a stop to in London at the end
of Oct. 1840, though it was not until 1854 that the prohibition became
general. Prior to the passing of the Act in that year, dogs were
utilised as draught animals to a very great extent in this neighbourhood
by the rag-and-bone gatherers, pedlars, and little merchants, as many as
180 of the poor brutes once being counted in five hours as passing a
certain spot on the Westbromwich Road. There have been one or two
"homes" for stray dogs opened, but it is best in case of a loss of this
kind to give early information at the nearest police station, as the art
of dog stealing has latterly been much cultivated in this town, and it
should be considered a duty to one's neighbour to aid in putting a stop
thereto.
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