TALK OF THE DAY

Otago Witness, 5 December 1900, Page 40

fcihaustively examine and report by word of mouth to the persons at the ringside respecting every horse entered, showing every discovered fault, explaining the cause of it, and also the cure— if there is a cure — and then giving his award of merit strictly on the merits of the horse, this award to be accompanied, when the merits justified such a thing, toy a certificate to the effect that the horse or Ware (if of mature age) is fit for breeding from. If that plan were adopted we should bave in the first place an interesting discourse that the people would throng to dear; next, the examinations being thorough 'and searching, the awards would be valued by the owners, who, to secure the certificate, Jivould not mind going to trouble and expense If they had a really good horse to show ; and, Snoreover, the system would be a help in the Necessary work of weeding out the unsound jhorses and using only the best for procr,eative (purposes. If the Government could be iniduced. to assist this scheme by making a large '(reduction in railway fares of those horses p;hat are certificated, at any rate to the extent of giving them free passes for a season, the iadea would soon catch on. I present these 'suggestions in the hope that they will be at Jfoast considered. Nowadays the show is a j.perfect farce, so far as blood stock is fonJicerned. Owners do not see the use of it, and "Lean hardly wonder, as the judging is often 'superficial, -not to say farcical. I have myjseif seen a first-class certificate bestowed almost without any examination, simply because the horse or mare- in the ring had a .walk-over; and when, say, two are entered in hi class it is the rule to give a "first" ticket ! <to the better of the pair, though this better one is perhaps an animal that the judge himself would never dream of breeding from! {Last week the only blood stallions shown (were Casket and Mariner. Good horses, both of them, but surely not the only ones that Qtago can show.