HORSES FOR AUSTRALIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3029, 3 April 1912, Page 19

HORSES FOR AUSTRALIA.

MELBOURNE MARKET DULL. (From Our Own Correspondent.) INVERCARGILL, April 1. -Messrs J. B. Walsh, J. JY»'Dermott, J. Duffy, P. Dooley, sen., and W. and T. Dooley, who some weeks ago left Southland with Consignments of horses for Melbourne, returned by the Ulimaroa today. A Southland Times rejwrter was told by Mr Walsh that the Melbourne market at the present time is as dead as tho proverbial door-nail. In company with Mr M'Dermott, he had taken over 10 horses, but it would undoubtedly have pa-id him better to have sold them here. A really good draught horse in Melbourne at present, he said, would not fetch more than £4O. Then insurance, freight, selling and railage charges, not to mention the cost of stabling in Australia, ran into between £lO and £l2. There was a decided reluctance to purchase any class of horse, and mares were especially hard to place. The glut in the market Mr Walsh attributed to the

very dry season which had been experienced in Victoria. There had been no rain to speak of for some five or six months in the vicinity of Melbourne, consequently all feed was scarce. As long as such a state of affairs existed farmers would not operate in the market. With no demand in Melbourne, horses were daily being taken out of the metropolis in an attempt to dispose of them. Besides these things, some of the dealers liad fared badly on the trip across to Australia. Mr Duffy had lost three horses out of his consignment of six, and Mr T. Dooley also had lost one of his best geldings.