The Plague Dogs

by Richard Adams

  "The mist's breaking up."

  "Never mind. As long as we're not found here."

  That afternoon, while Digby Driver made his way to Lawson Park and back again, while first the police and then the entire country learned aghast of what had happened under Dow Crag, Snitter and Rowf wandered, with many halts, over the Coniston range. For much of the time Snitter was confused, talking of the tod, of his dead master and of a girl who drove a car full of strange animals. As darkness was falling they descended the southern side of the Grey Friar and found themselves, quite by chance, on the green platform outside the old coppermine shaft. Snitter did not recognize it but Rowf, supposing that he must have led them there on purpose, at once went in; and here, among old, half-vanished smells of sheep's bones and the tod, they spent that night.

  Thursday the 25th November

  "Ah'll tell thee, Bob," said Dennis, "it were worst bluidy thing as Ah've ever seen. An' if woon more newspaper chap cooms to't door assking questions, Ah'll belt the bluidy arse off him. Ah will thet."

  Robert nodded in silence.

  "Happen those could have made good dogs, Dennis, tha knaws," he remarked after a little. "Good, workin' dogs. Ay, they could."

  Grey Friar

  "Waste o' dogs? Ay--waste o' chap an' all. That were bank chap from Windermere, tha knaws."

  Robert gazed meditatively down the cowshed, where the cows breathed and intermittently blew, tossed their heads and stamped in the warm half-dark. Fly, one of his own dogs, looked up from the floor and, perceiving that its master was still relaxed, returned its head to its front paws.

  "Ah'll tell thee soomthing, Dennis," said Robert at length. "Yon newspaper chap, yon Driver. When this dogs' business started oop, wi' thy yows goin' an' that, Ah told thee as he'd be real 'andy fella, put paid to trooble an' all."

  "Ay, tha did."

  "Well, Ah were bluidy wrong, an' that's all there is to it, owd lad. He's doon joost nowt, 'as 'e? Joost maakin' newspaper stories an' keepin' pot on't boil, like, to sell paper. He's made more trouble for us, not less."

  "Ay, an' Ah doan't reckon as he ever meant t'ave dogs caught at all. Longer they went on, better he were pleased, tha knaws."

  "Anoother bluidy story, ay. An' old 'Any Tyson says they're no more carryin' plague than he is. Never read sooch a looad o' roobbish in all 'is life, he said. What it cooms to, yon Driver's oop 'ere maakin' mooney out of us coontry johnnies, that's about it, old booy."

  "Well, he'll make no more out of me, Bob, tha knaws, for Ah wayn't oppen door to him agaain, nor noon o't' basstards."

  "Ay, but Ah were thinkin', happen theer's worse to't than that, Dennis. If he'd doon what he should 'ave doon, yon Windermere chap wouldn't have needed to be going out affter dogs at all. That could all 'ave bin settled an' doon with."

  "Happen they could put green collar on him, like, an' boil his arse for experiment," said Dennis bitterly. "He'd be soom bluidy use then, any rooad."

  He got up off the stone bench. "Well, Ah'm away."

  "Art tha goin' into Broughton?"

  "Nay, Ah'm off t'Oolverston, an' bide theer while newspaper chaps are gone. They can talk to Gwen if they like, an' she'll tell them joomp int' beck, damn' sight sharper than Ah can an' all."

  Five cars went by Hall Dunnerdale, nose to tail. Robert and Dennis watched them pass before crossing the road to the parked van.

  "There'll be a few more o' those an' all, now," said Robert.

  "Folk starin' about for they don't know what. Y'can thank yon Driver for that as weel."

  HOUSE OF COMMONS

  OFFICIAL REPORT

  PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES

  (Hansard)

  5:20 p.m.

  MR. BERNARD BUGWASH (Lakeland Central): Mr, Speaker, in the course of this debate, hon. Members on this side of the House have already drawn attention very thoroughly, in general terms, to the reckless extravagance which throughout the past three years has characterized the Government in the field of so-called research work and research establishments, right across the board. The plain truth is that public money has been frittered away on all manner of nonsense. I would not be surprised to learn that alchemists had been given some of it to discover the philosopher's stone. (Laughter.) It is no laughing matter.

  I was originally going to say that it has fallen to me to illustrate this incompetence by telling the House about a particular instance. However, as matters now stand, the House hardly needs further telling. The past two days have raised the matter to a level where no one throughout the country is unaware of it. Therefore I need only remind the House briefly of the tragic facts, to most hon. Members already only too dreadfully familiar.

  It is a sinister reflection that if those hon. Members whom I observe at this moment leaving the Chamber were on their way to homes in my constituency, they would be running the risk of attack by savage animals--yes, Mr. Speaker, savage animals--and, upon arrival at those homes, the further risk of having their property destroyed or damaged during the night. If they were farmers, they might wake to find fowls or sheep removed or killed. This, one might have thought, would be bad enough. But that is not the worst. They would also have to endure the risk of infection by a terrible disease, none other than bubonic plague. And perhaps worst of all, they would be living day in and day out in the knowledge that no less than two local people, strong, healthy men in the prime of their lives, had had those lives brought to tragic ends by what are in effect wild beasts. I do not intend here to sicken the House with the details of the second of those deaths, which we have all seen reported in this morning's newspapers. I merely say, "Who would have imagined that these things would be allowed to take place in this country today?"

  How did they come about and at whose door should the responsibility be laid? It rests squarely on the shoulders of the Government and, as I intend to show, the fear and tragedy which my constituents are presently undergoing are the logical--not the fortuitous, Mr. Speaker, but the logical--outcome of policies--

  The Parliamentary Secretary of the Department of the Environment (MR.

  BASIL FORBES) rose--

  MR. BUGWASH: I am sorry, but I cannot give way to the hon. Member at this point. The time is coming soon enough when these charges must be answered, but since there can be no satisfactory answer there is no reason why the hon. Member should be in a hurry to admit it. What has happened now is the logical outcome of policies dating back several years, to a piece of the stupidest doctrinaire steam-rollering which has ever been thrust upon this long-suffering nation--and that is saying a lot.

  It is now something like five years since the Government, despite strenuous and well-justified opposition, gave approval to the construction of the buildings known as Animal Research, Scientific and Experimental, at Lawson Park, east of Coniston Water, one of the most beautiful places in England. And how did this piece of nonsense come to be put into effect? I will tell you how. By disregarding the clearly expressed views both of local people and of their elected representatives.

  One morning the unsuspecting inhabitants of this national park area, whose very well-founded misgivings were set aside by the Secretary of State in his so-called wisdom, wake up and find that a pair of savage dogs have been allowed to escape. The dogs begin killing sheep on the fells, taking poultry from farms and doing all manner of damage. The station says nothing and does nothing. I need not give many details, for they are known to hon. Members from the daily press, but I must give some. At length a public-spirited businessman undertakes the organization of a hunt by local farmers. He is found shot dead and it is more than suspected that one of these dogs played a crucial part in the accident. Whether it did or not, surely the station, if they had had the least sense of responsibility, would have uttered something at this juncture? They did not. They did nothing. They said nothing until several days later, and then all they said was that two dogs had escaped. On the very same day it transpired, and was reported in the press, that those dogs were probably infected with buboni
c plague. And both the station and its parent Department still did nothing, nothing at all.

  One might have thought that by now enough had been allowed to go wrong to galvanize anybody into action. But there was worse to come. You will be only too well aware, Mr. Speaker, of the tragedy reported in the press this morning, which has deeply shocked the entire country. That is what this dreadful story of neglect and criminal irresponsibility has brought us to. These are the sort of people who are entrusted with research programmes and with spending money on them. Ostriches--worse. A decent ostrich would have kicked someone by now.

  I am not alone in feeling that there are several questions to which the rt. hon. Gentleman opposite should give us the Government's answers tonight. Public anxiety is grave, and it is his plain duty to allay it if he can.

  CAPTAIN ALISTAIR MORTON-HARDSHAW (Keswick): Like the hon. and learned Member for Lakeland Central, I am anxious to hear what assurances my rt. hon. Friend has to give us on this matter. I feel strongly that there is one aspect which has received insufficient attention. We have learned that these dogs may have become infected, during their escape, with bubonic plague. I find it disturbing that this kind of work should be carried out at a place where risk to the public is involved. Surely work on something like bubonic plague should be carried out in complete isolation, in an underground bunker or something like that. It is disturbing that the station are apparently unable to deny that there is a possibility, however small, that these dogs are infected. While I do not feel able to associate myself with every one of the sweeping and in certain respects not very penetrating criticisms made by the hon. Member for Lakeland Central-

  MR. BUGWASH: You ought to.

  CAPTAIN MORTON-HARDSHAW: The hon. and learned Member says that I

  ought to. With respect, I cannot agree with him. I wish--

  MR. BUGWASH: Because you are deliberately blind to what is-

  CAPTAIN MORTON-HARDSHAW: At any rate I am not a lackey of the gutter press.

  MR. BUGWASH: Who is the hon. and gallant Member suggesting is a lackey of the gutter press? Would the hon. and gallant Member care to say plainly who he suggests is a lackey of the gutter press?

  CAPTAIN MORTON-HARDSHAW: I am afraid the hon. and learned Member for Lakeland Central is going to burst a blood vessel in a moment. If the cap fits he can wear it.

  MR. SPEAKER: I am afraid the cap will not fit. That was an unparliamentary expression. The hon. and gallant Member for Keswick must withdraw it. It is desirable to keep the temper of the House down, if possible.

  CAPTAIN MORTON-HARDSHAW: Is it only the hon. and learned Member with the brain of a fox and the manners of a dog who is entitled to your protection, Mr. Speaker? Am I not to be given any protection--

  HON. MEMBERS: Withdraw!

  CAPTAIN MORTON-HARDSHAW: It is often said by Mr. Speaker that he is conveniently deaf.

  SEVERAL HON. MEMBERS rose--

  MR. SPEAKER: Order. The hon. and gallant Gentleman is entitled to complete his speech. But he must withdraw that expression.

  MR. MICHAEL HAND (Oban): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. If we are considering manners and the pot is calling the kettle black-

  MR. SPEAKER: That is not a point of order.

  HON. MEMBERS: It is!

  MR. SPEAKER: No, it is not. I do not take my orders from back benchers. I have said that the hon. and gallant Gentleman must withdraw, and no doubt he is waiting to do so.

  CAPTAIN MORTON-HARDSHAW: I withdraw the words that I used and I apologize to every lackey of the gutter press in this country for bringing him down to the level of the people who sit on the opposite side of the House.

  MR. SPEAKER: I am obliged.

  MR. BUGWASH: I accept the hon. and gallant Gentleman's withdrawal, but not his apology. Our sympathy should perhaps go out to the Secretary of State for the company he keeps today.

  CAPTAIN MORTON-HARDSHAW: I will conclude by simply saying what I have been prevented from saying for the last five minutes. I sincerely hope that my rt. hon. Friend will be able to include in his reply some undertaking about ensuring the safety of the public when carrying out work on dangerous things of this nature which ought not to be done in places where there is the minutest risk of infection getting out. I hope my rt. hon. Friend will have something to tell us about that.

  Up in the Strangers' Gallery, Mr. Anthony Hogpenny turned to Mr. Desmond Simpson.

  "Let's go out and have a couple across the way, shall we? They'll be happy for at least half an hour yet. Then we can come back and hear whatever Hot Bottle Bill can find to tell them. One thing's certain, he'll have to concede something--quite a lot, I'd say, considering that he's under fire from his own back-benchers as well as from the Opposition. Should be an interesting spectacle."

  When they returned, they found that the debate had evidently folded rather more quickly than Mr. Hogpenny had expected, for Hot Bottle Bill was already on his feet and had apparently been on them for some little time.

  -I have already stressed to the House that I take a most serious view of the public anxiety brought about by the escape of these dogs. Let me say at once that I have every confidence in the people who run Animal Research. They are extremely good at their job.

  MR. HAND: What is it?

  MR. HARBOTTLE: Their job is scientific research by means of experiments upon animals, and I repeat, they are very good at it. I am satisfied that, in saying nothing initially about the dogs' escape, their aim was to avoid giving rise to public anxiety in a manner which might have proved alarmist and worse in its effect than silence. I want to assure the House that for all practical purposes there is no risk whatever of bubonic plague. That has been made far too much of in certain quarters and by certain people. There is a possible chance in ten thousand--in fifty thousand--that the dogs might have encountered an infected flea, and that is why the station, quite rigntly, would not say that such a thing was out of the question. I repeat, they are men of science, not public relations officers.

  MR. GULPIN MCGURK (Adlestrop) rose--

  MR. HARBOTTLE: I am sorry, Mr. Speaker, but what I have to say is of the greatest importance and I cannot give way now.

  The hon. and learned Member for Lakeland Central spoke of public expenditure at Lawson Park. A balance sheet for the past three years will be laid on the Table of the House within the next two days. I do not accept for one moment that there has been any excessive expenditure. I am sure that there has not and the balance sheet will prove it--

  MR. BUGWASH rose--

  MR. HARBOTTLE: I must continue, Mr. Speaker. I am sorry. (Interruption.) This sort of thing only wastes time--

  MR. BUGWASH: Better than wasting money.

  MR. HARBOTTLE: I intend personally to examine the research programmes, staffing and costs at Lawson Park for the current year and next year, and see whether economies cannot be made. I will let the House know my conclusions.

  "Christ!" muttered Mr. Hogpenny to Mr. Simpson.

  I come finally to the matter of the distressing tragedy which occurred on the Dow Crag two days ago. It would be pointless for me or anyone to try to allot blame for a thing of this kind. The point is, what is going to be done and how quick and effective will it be? What I have to tell the House is that if time has been lost, we are making up for it now. With the co-operation of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence-

  MISS JOYCE O'FARRELL (Abergavenny): Where is he?

  MR. HARBOTTLE: The hon. Lady asks where he is. That is irrelevant. The point is that he has already made a decisive contribution to this problem. Two companies of the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, are at this moment on their way to the Lake District. Tomorrow they will begin an intensive search of the most likely areas and they will continue until the dogs are found and killed, which I hope will be quickly. Also taking part in the search will be two Royal Naval helicopters, which will be directly in touch with the ground force by radio.

  There is one more thing I want to say. It is importa
nt and I hope it will be widely reported. Members of the public who have no real business there positively must keep out of the area. Anything in the nature of rubber-necking, taking photographs, sight-seeing, and so on would certainly be a hindrance to the soldiers and could also be dangerous to the sight-seers themselves. We are not going to close the roads. That might create serious difficulties for doctors, veterinary surgeons, farmers and others. We rely on people's good sense to stay away.

  I myself am going to the area tomorow. I shall be in personal touch with those conducting the hunt and it will not be called off until it is successful.

  MR. BUGWASH: I am sure I am expressing the feelings of the entire House in thanking the Secretary of State for his speech and for the action he is initiating in various different spheres. It is a case of better late than never. We on this side of the House welcome his co-operation.

  "Hell's bells!" said Mr. Hogpenny, as he and Mr. Simpson left the Strangers' Gallery en route for Mr. Bugwash's room in the House, "talk about grovelling! Harbottle makes it too easy. A penny a kick and twopence a brick and sewage was threepence a bucket, eh?"

  "He knows what he's doing, though," said Mr. Simpson. "Don't you see, the implicit line is that his chaps have clanged, he's too decent to say so and now he's Honest Joe acting like lightning to clean up the mess that wasn't brought to his notice earlier. A head will roll, as sure as fate, you mark my words. Give it forty-eight hours."

  "Well, the Plague Dogs racket has certainly proved very successful from the Orator's point of view, all things considered," said Mr. Hogpenny. "In fact, far better than I expected. How to make good use of our four-footed friends. A Cabinet Minister gravely embarrassed, some sort of junior resignation, if you're right, and circulation up more than half a million. Your Driver fellow has done very well. However, I think we need to be looking for a really resounding denouement of some kind now. Fearsome dogs shot by gallant lads'll be about the size of it, I suppose. But I hope Driver may be able to contrive some unexpected conclusion that pays us and pleases the public."