TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10758, 11 September 1900, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The series of articles on A Threatened iiorse-bree-ding in New Horse Famine. Zealand which are now

appearing in our contemporary, the "Weekly Press." direct attention to the insufficient number of good horses in the colour, and their general deterioration as compared with the horses of twenty or thirty years ago. The scarcity of i/ood animals was made evident when we were sending out our contingents by the difficulty experienced by the various committees in securing mounts of the stamp required. As to the present quality of New Zea'and horses, such authorities as Mr Bidwill, of the Wairarapa, Mr J. C- N. Grigg, of Longbeach, and Mr Jas. Stevenson, of Flaxton, ali agree that it is not what it was •or what it should be. It is not our intention here to discuss the methods by which they surest an improvement ■ can he effected, but it may be remarked that however poorly our horses nowadays may compare .with those of former years, those sent to South Africa wera generally admitted to be among the best uted in Hie operations of the war, and to far surpass the remounts obtained from any other country. New Zealand horses have therefore received a fine advertisement iv quarters where such matters are not likely to be forgotten, and it is for our breeders to take such advantage of the opportunity* as it offers. If they are doubtful as to the future usefulness of the horse, Colonel W. P. Cody, better and more widely known as "Buffalo Bill," should reassure them. The' Colonel was lately troubled at the prospect of a-horse famine in. the United States, an j event which he predicted would take place next year. Prices, he said, were forty per cent, higher than they were two years ago, and they were going higher, as the demand far exceeds the supply. He mentioned that at the time of writing there are two agents of the British Government in the States, seeking to buy 35,000 hoists, and he believed they would not be able to obtain a fraction of that number, for the country simply could not supply the demand.

j F<«r this state of things the The Effect, bicycle is responsible. At of the the height of its popularity j Bicycle. horse breeders became { alarmed, tljought tflio horse ihad seen its day, and weiit out of the business, with the result that in the Western States •vrlifd'e great h-erds used to be raised the maober dropped off almost to vanishing point, and horses became so unsaleable that the ownerless herds cama to be dreadsd as a possible "pest." Colonel Cody, who, ac an old stage-driver and scout, loves the horse nest to his brother, declares that the bicycle has had its day, that the automobile will be but a fad, and that the horse will come into ihia own again. Especially does h© think the future of the horse in war is hopsful. "In the Transvaal," he says, "Lord Eobsrts's mem are wearing out tbsir second relay of horses, and agents of the British Government throughout tae world are doing their best to get a iVe.*]] supply. If they do not get th«m within ! 60 days the British cavalry in South Africa will be on foot. Two hundred thousiud

British soldiers are waiting anxiously for the horse. (!) Without the horse there would never have been a Sheridan" Without the horse there would never have -leen. a French. The greatest hero of the South African war will be the man on horseback.. The greatest; ieross of wars to come will be the men on horseback." Despite the touch of exaggeration in tihess remarks, they'have a good' foundation of truth. We do not agree that the reign of the bicycle is over, but undoubtedly the South African campaign has, proved to satisfaction the usefulness of mounted infantry, and in future wars the "men on horseback," if not the "grtateei; heroes," will probably be the hardest worked.

The opening of the new railA way from Peshawur to the Frontier Khyber Pass, which was exRailway. pected to take place this week, is an event of considerable imi portance to India, anci possibly to the Empire, for though its-benefits, in the event of another war on the frontier or in Afghanistan, will be great, t&ey will be dearly bought if it is one of the causes itself of war fii those parts, and this wntingenoy is not altogether impossible. Tlie line is only a twelve-miles-long addition to existing lines, but it will enable troops to be poured into the Khyber and thence into Afghani* stan if and it ia an effective countermove to the advance of Russia onthe northern border of Afghanistan. The Ameer of Afghanistan, however, mada public not so long ago the feelings of hatred borne by hie subjects towards railways, and he may regard the opening of this line as a proof of England's indifference to his views, if not as a direct threat. The Afridis, too, are almost in open revolt, for most of the new line rana through their country, and the Alridis detest railways almost as profoundly as do the Chinese. The iron road, it ia explained, is looked upon as the visible proof of alien and infidel influence in the country, and in the case of the north-west frontier it has had the additional effect of killing a number of small local industries such as weaving, by facilitating the introduction of foreign goods. Railways, indleed, have much to answer for in native opinion in India. In the south the prejudice against them appears, however, only in famine years, when all the horrors of famine 'are attributed to their introduction. In the old days, »y the natives, famices were neither so frequent nor so severe. In the fat years more grain was grown than was needed, as there were no means of moving it easily it was stored, and then when a'farnjne occurred there tvau » reserve to fall back upon. But now whenever there is a surplus of grain it is sold, generally for a low price, and a famine finds whole districts with neither grain nor money reserves-—and the railway is blamed. The native does not, or will not, ace that it is quite aa much in his power to put by money for the inevitable lean years as it was formerly to -tore grain, neither <Joes he recognise that only by the rail-

ways is Jt pos*fcl« for the Gov6m mm ? [ snpply him, in famine years, with the a i - of food which maintains lite in hundred r * thousands of cases, though in thWa-1 S others it tmhappOy arrives too late! * t

*. G. Afialo, writin, ,■ i Nature* '-Good Words" O "4 U I Implements. Wild Creatures Feed," fc? I — his liveliest material j n %«* 1 Zealand Instances of remarkable I He once more discusses the kea, "that m« «w I discussed mutton-eater of New Zealand >> and emphasises the fact that its bili V). , j powerful, scarcely points to any predt? I sition for a meat diet, seed-eating α-id • ' tarian cockatoos, for instance, bills even more powerful than the fruit?? nivorous and raptorial birds. Xhe ke *-'" fact, combines the fringed tongue a (\t honey-eater with those acquired plenties the reverse of saccharine MentL • made, too, of the male Ind femjfc £*' with the remarkable difference in baiAj mat-ion which set afloat the pretty le4ndl* I for legend only it proved to be— 1 of the pair was so incomplete without t* I other as to be unable even to procure fJT I the male having to pike open decavin* ,jT I ber iv which grubs and insect* wew t o f I found, while the slender pliant be-ik nf-ft- I female alone could extract the prey for Wt! I Sir Walter Buller rather cruellY O pS 1 this theory by the statement that J 1 such occasions of mutual action the fenX I simply repays her husband's attentions hi I eating every grub that she gets hold J I and if there were no independent meass <5 i procuring sustenance the male huia vonjd 1 soon be a starved bird. Still the bj; 1 difference is an interesting item to note in I the list of Nature's tool-providings. .w fj there is the New Zealand wry-billed | carrying a bill so comically twisted tluV 1 some observers have called it simple L I natural freak, but this, too, since -N«,n»-*J usually has her reasons for freaks, may 1 fairly set down as helping the bird to fitd I its food under some unusual conditions ,>{ I retreat, The animal world shows on ths I whole a remarkable array of table im\&: f meats, but decidedly the bird-pjopJe m J most variously equipped. Fesding-timg I calls for the exorcise of a spiral spring -. 8 -p the woodpecker's tongue, a brush in ths I tongue of the lory, a powerful shell-open, 1 in the oyster-catcher's beak, and a gciisoi I in that of the cross-bill. So Mr Aflafo I makes a ptauant paper, bringing instance I from near and far, but dwelling J appreciation, as we have said, upon iiatur* 1 history curiosities in New Zealand. „ I