ARMY HORSED FATE

Evening Star, Issue 16987, 8 March 1919, Page 10

ARMY HORSED FATE

•— ! WAS WORK COMPLETED. j 700,000 TO BE rH)LI>. 1 Tf anyone is in need or'_a hor-e there wil' ' be ample opportunities of securing one at- a reasuiuible ntjuie during die coming month-, p,a\s .i London p-i t -.i The auny au-hon- | tics ha-e tluee-qu .it .-a of a irib.on to ill-,-, jeose of, and the r. »i bat. hj ut 2b ' C'l •were to , have come into f'c • in.nket to- .-lie bv the i end ot Jamjar*. vfter tb.it si'-es vvi.l hi. held u„ ie;ui.ir Wer\.d a d! over I.te.il Britain. In order to cot an even lirstribmicm over the ctuntry, thete will be * do- m the Lircet | towns up to 1W». a-d in tb ■ smaller i-okii-up to 25 so thit there w.ll b" brught bie>, to the doers of the peop'e hiu-es to replace tbo-e taken for thv ».it. _ , Major-general B rkbeck. < t 1\" : ; mouiitii, hail son.e uaeiesting Lets to te.. about the denub. .-u,v noi the ho.-es At | the outbreik o'* the war he s->I I. tlie Arm;, j possessed 19 Oct) bat the llem HliK| Department l.a 1 norke-i s. well tin' the t Force !e t Englanu noised , a, no inn\*had «.\er been limbed befo:t i InAmcnci the} bm.;fc- and 700,n.W ( - i cent, hosi sioknes--_ md <"' 2 per ccn:. %\heie e'lemv s-um was ii:-au!til. , Oui hor-e stre-ig'h hi ! ,ucrei,e<i .n Fiance j from in >»ptembe: 1914. to -l&HOO 1 m July. 1917. The tiup -i. of the hotses i it,h a "very s>( rious prohleai. _ | It was estimated th::t ot our aainiajis now i in France 27 pr cerr. *e e -ound and tinner j eiijat jeirs of -a*». 44 per cent, between . nine and 12 vears. and 19 per cent, were either over 12 vears or unsound. A con-bide.-sb'c number wiuli he v. aired for the armv of cccuoatioti. but they would come i home eventually. A; prfeeus plans had been • made to rp-oitrtate j, etc m.tay anj d-,-j fibiitJ them for sale t ' ov>r Orea>- Bntmn. Th" 8.'1.-'ia.i lin e.r'i-.n; we.-e b"im: pro- • iided with SO.LrOO anp;ia - to ,is-,i>t ,iu reconstruction, and the .levastated districts o: | Fr.tr.ee would, no doubt, take many more. ] In ih- las* tVttr thty had taken 1 from Great Britain 17 per cent, of its work- I nw horse popular. >n ail ;h-y weie ready, to put th't numb- 1 - hick if requued Only the best class of he -'- were to be b-ought , back front France —that was,_the pick of the horses which were sound and under 12 ; years o: age. . \ There ivas an unaccountable prejudice mules inEnsxland, Major-general Birk-bc-k pointed out. 1 Ax present they had about ; 10,000 in England,' many of which they ; w-inted to sell", but- people did not seem in- | c'iued to bur. The mule was an economic : animal, which did not- eat so much, and for i every horse that wen; sick less than naif u mule was sick. , , , i Tti the eastern theatres of war xiiey hao j 10C.00O horses and mules to be disposed ot. \ It was a problem which had three alternatives—repatriation, destruction, or sale. Eepatriatiou was out. of the question, as every -bin was wanted to bring food and nuuenal to 'the country, while 100,000 horses would fake some destroving tm'.esi they took them out into the desert and shot £5.G00,C00 worth and left their- carcasses to be eaten bv vultures. , , "That left no alternative to saie. the instruction was that animals in en-tern Theatres should be disposed ot "hy -ale or otherwise.'' Commanding officers haa. been instructed to use a liberal discretion ju destroying animals, especially those o: Bntwn origin, for which good homes could not ae found on the spot.