The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1896. A TAX ON STALLIONS.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume XXIV, Issue 2087, 15 September 1896, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1896. A TAX ON STALLIONS.

,We see thai the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association have at last risen to the occasion, and passed a fteries of resolutions advocating the imposition of n tax on entire horses. They have now sought the approval of the Canterbury Association, and the matter is under the consideration of a Committee at present, and will be brought forward as a leading question for discussion at the next general meeting. The present proposal is by no means a drastic one : it is that an annual license fee of £15 be imposed on all eatires used for stud purposes, and that no. stallion Bhall be allowed to travel, stand or parade unless it hsis been inspected by a qualified' Veterinary surgeon, and a certificate obtained from the owner that the animal is free from hereditary unsoundness. It is not proposed that the tax so levied should be a part of the ordinary revenue of the Government, but that it should be specially appropriated for giving prizes to horses and their piogeny at the Agricultural shows. , ■'...• :

We do not, at all approve of this last proposition. . In our opiuion, judging from the Peninsula aud other districts adjoining Cbristchurch, thY tax would anwaot to~Voo Urge a euna to give back

in prizes to the entires and their progeny. There are in every district Farmers' Clubs or Agricultural Associations of some kind, and these, like our own Fanners' Association, are very hard to keep up. Wilh the revenue derived from a stallion tax, however, they would be in a very different position, and might effect a great deal more good than they do at oresent.

That the imposition of such a tax would be of benefit in improving the class of hor&es we breed, there cannot be tho slightest doubt. In the first place, the fifteen pounds would not lessen the number of really good horses available, but would weed out the worst. Owners" of good entires would be mors than repaid forj the fifteen pounds by the extra number of mares that would be placed at their disposal by doing; away with the wretcheu apologies that are willing to do service for a few shillings These, though they are never seen at parades or heard of in newspapers, lurk in many a secluded paddock all over the Colony, and do much to deteriorate hors<? stock generally. The matter is one which require*? a lengthier and more careful notice than this, and we shall await with e;reat interest the result of the discussicn on the report of the Horse Committee at the next general meeting of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Associatjpn.