THE STALLION BILL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3111, 29 October 1913, Page 18

THE STALLION BILL.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,— As the Stallions Bill is of such extreme importance to many house-owners in this district, I write drawing attention to seme of the provisions of the measure that arc decidedly detrimental to the object intended—that of removing the unsound and worthless sires. I can well understand the difficulties our Chief Veterinarian had to contend with in framing the measure, but in endeavouring to devise a Bill that would not be too oppressive Mr Reakes has introduced saving clauses that nullify a good deal of its value. Perhaps it would have been too much to aek that draft copies of the Bill should have been sent to all A. and P. Associations, so that it could have been fully considered by those interested persons whose purpose it is to improve the quality of stock. Mr Reakes certainly gave, at Dunedin and elsewhere, verbal outlines of what the Bill was likely to contain, but as his Bill was not in concrete form it would have sccpicd something like presumption to cross-question him as to the direction (he Bill was likely to take in its more important features, and he received a free hand. Now that the Bill has been framed, the “ didn’t-knovv-it-was-loadock” feeling is gone. I am very much afraid that when it comes before Parliament, and is treated as a Government measure, it will not tecoivc the drastic revision that is necessary, and breeders of draught horses of the dominion will find themselves saddled with a law that will have an effect opposite from that intended. Does it not strike everyone as being strange that under the proposed law a horse that gains a certificate of soundness in Now Zealand may not be sound in Australia, on account of the schedule of diseases not being the same? Australia is our present market, and the fact that our schedule is not similar to the one in operation in Australia in important limb ailments is a feature that goes to show how far the Bill misses its mark.

It may bo comforting - to say that tho conditions had to be made easy at first in order that the Bill might not be considered unnecessarily harsh; but the circumstance that an animal that would bo considered unsound in Australia and sound according to tho New Zealand law is not a nice recommendation of cur horses to our prospective buyers in Australia! New Zealand is supposed to lead in advanced legislation, but in the present measure it must be admitted that wo are hopelessly left at the post. Another objectionable feature of the Bill, and one that is to he much deplored, is that, though every draught stallion whose owner charges for service has to have a certificate showing that tho animal is free from hereditary unsound ness, there is nothing to prevent a private owner from using a stallion that is afflicted with all the maladies and infirmities of the equine world. Is this in the direction of exterminating the worthless sire and his still more worthless progeny? T say that it is not, and the door has been opened wider than it has ever been before for breeding unsound horses, because it is a positive certainty that very many owners of only moderate quality mares who have paid fees in the past wifi in future use etallions of thoir own breeding. There are other reasons that will prompt breeders owning inferior mares from using licensed stallions, the chief one being that

when stallions for hire or fee have to pass a veterinary examination the fees may be somewhat higher than they have been. It is a recognised fact that the fees for good stallions have been kept at too low a figure because of the competition of the less valuable and unsound animals offering at ridiculously low charges. Thus the owners oi high-class animals, instead of finding better rounds for their certificated horses, will find that the cheap and trashy unlicensed stallion, though not on the road, is still in use in the paddock, and the owners will not be slow to recognise the pn vile go that has been extended to them in a Bill framed for the high-sounding purpose of " ridel in" tlie country of unsound draught stallions . There are optimists, perhaps, who will say that the number of stallions kept on farms and not offered for hire will be few, and become loss; but it will be found hat the number of stallions kept by individual farmers will be large, and keep on increasing while (as I said before) the quality of°our draught stock will deteriorate in consequence to a much lower level than it ever reached, because the stock of the unlicensed stallions will go on to the market as marcs and geldings, the mares to be purchased at low figures by the fanners who use their own inferior stallions, and so the work of reproducing the worthless will have an unrestricted coarse. And the Stallions Bill provides for this—a truly magnificent stop in Why tlie Clydesdale llovso Society of New Zealand has not made an emphatic protest against such a monstrous proviso is more than I can understand. . . The matter of appealing against a. decision of the examiners, who may decide not to grant a certificate, is another point, as it invests the officci's with the power of judge and jury. An objecting owner has the right, in demanding a ro-examination, to appoint one veterinary surgeon, and the Bill provides for two Government veterinary surgeons, so that the voting on the second examination stands a big chance of being 2to 1. With regard to the examination of stallions, it is stated that there are instances on record in Australia where horses have been refused certificates in one district, and the animals have been afterwards quietly taken to other districts, where certificates of soundness have been granted by men equally as competent in their profession as those refusing to give the certificates. In the medical profession “ when doctors differ patients die,” but in the veterinary profession it is freouently made clear when men with M.R.C.V.S. attached to their names differ that horses live, and live to fulfil a useful life. Why trotting horses should be included in the Bill and thoroughbreds left out is another illustration that the Bill is not on proper lines. Those of ns who have watched with regret the steady decline in quality and soundness of general-purpose light horses know that there arc many excellent reasons why the thoroughbred stallion should not be allowed fo go free. Summarised, my objections to the Bill are: fl) The schedule of unsoundness should be on the same lines as the one already adopted in Australia; (2) every stallion, draught and light, used for stud purposes should be licensed; (3) a fairer course of appealing against an adverse decision of Government examiners should bo provided. —I <pn. etc., Papakaio. Win Gardiner.

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS. The stock got by the Ed end ale Horsebreeders’ Association’s premium horse of this year, British Time (imp.). 154 N.Z.C.5.8., are evidently in demand at good nrioes in Scot lain d. A yearling filly got by him was sold at the recent Perth Clydesdale sale for 160 gs. A few of his two-year-olds have also been purchased by an American buyer at very satisfactory figures. “ Shearers make very little when it 's all over.” remarked Mr M. Laracy, secretary of the New Zealand Shearers’ Association, to a New Zealand Times reporter, ■ hen discussing matters connected with the agreement which was recently obtained. Ho pointed out that some people won of opinion that at £1 per hundred the shearers could make fat cheques. At Terawhiti each man sheared 600 sheep, which meant £6. but it cost some of thorn £1 10s to get there, so that they did not make a great deal out of the transaction Mr T. Sinclair, Balclutha, had the niisfortune to have line© fine fat cattle killed on the railway line near Balclutha station on Saturday morning. They were being driven from' a paddock and stampeded, and Mr W. Hunter, who was in ohargo, did not have time to get them clear of the lino a little past the railway crossing when the 9.13 express rushed in from the south, with the result that the cattle were killed by the engine. A dairy farm of 100 odd acres near Konini is reported to have changed hands during the past few days at £46 per acre, the purchaser being a well-known setler. The Ballance Co-operative Dairy Company, at Pabiatua, paid £3510 to milk suppliers during September, being over £BOO in excess of the corresponding month in 1912.

Mr E. Hide, of Waitohi Flat, has just achieved somewhat of a record in lambing tallies. With 500 ewes lie secured 612 lambs, working out at about 136 tier cent. Mr R. L. Stephens, of Lagmhor, has tallied 132 per cent, of lambs from a flock of 300 ewes, and Mr Tarbotton, of Tmwald, has secured a percentage of 142 :ambs from a flock of 300. A Lake County runhokler expects that the Lambing on his property this season will exceed 130 per cent. This figure, if realised, will establish a record- for the district. During the past 12 months 1200 people visjtcd the Moumahaki Experiment Farm. Plant-breeding experiments, with cocksfoot and prairie grass are now being carried out at the farm, and good results are Of 316,857 cwt of butter exported from the doiiUMin last year, ‘i2,46lcwc went to Canada, 5557 cwt to Natal, 4334 c wt to Cape of Good Hope, 3015 cwt to the United States 17I4cwt to New South Wales, .and 1152 cwt to the Society Islands. Of 577.070 cwt of cheese exported, Natal took 1650 cwt, Cape of Good Hope 995 c wt, Isew South Wales 758cwf, and Victoria 595 cwt. Farmers in the Hutt Valley were congratulating themselves on the recovery that their tomato and potato crops had made after the storm of Saturday week (says the New Zealand Times), when the arrival of las:; Saturday's visitation set the hopes they had of saving the fruits of their labour down to zero. In the more exposed areas the potato plants have been blackened and thousands of young tomato plants have been killed. It is yet early in the season for tomato growing, and the areas devastated by the cold spap are to be resown. No less than 19.0001 b of milk is being received daily at the Ballanoe butter factory—an increase of 50001 b over the corresponding period last season. The quantity of wool exported last year was 189.533,723!b, as compared wi*h 119,643,8741 b in the year 1893. In the latter year the quantity purchased by the local woollen mills was 2.629.8551 b, while it rose steadily to 6,284.1141 b last year. The total wool production in 1912 was 195,837,8371 b, as against 122,273,7291 b 20 years ago. A very heavy wool crop is expected in the Wairarapa this year. There is a fairly keen demand in Masterton just now for farm hands. In Carterton the demand is greater than the supply. Gyrations at the Waingawa Freeing Works will be commenced at the end of tlie present month. It is anticipated that there will bo considerable increase in tlie number of stock slaughtered during the coming season. The Levin Co-operative Dairy Company is breaking all local records for buttermaking. So groat has boon the increase in supply this season that already the daily “ make ” lias readied a ton-and-a-half. If the weather continues fine and moist, a still greater increase in tlie output may be looked for. Big lambing averages are the rule in South Canterbury this season. Mr J Smith, whose farm is about five miles from Timaru, brought 800 ewes from the Iladlow Estate in the winter and they have had 135 per cent, of lambs. A great many farmers have ICO, 110, and up to 120 per cent. The largest mob of cattle ever brought through Hanmer Plains was seen on Wedneslay (says the Lyttelton Times). The animals were the property of Mr A. Duncan Rutherford, and arrived from Leslie Hills, en route for Molosworih. The mob numbered 800 head, and, having wintered at Leslie Hills, they were in good condition. They were all halfbred Herefords. FROZEN MEAT INDUSTRY. CONFERENCE AT CHICAGO. (From Oun Own Correspondent.) AUCKLAND, October 2. Mr Pearse, who represented the meat freezing companies of New Zealand and Australia at the Refrigerating Congress at Chicago, was a passenger by the Marama from Vancouver. He states that over £50,000 was spent in entertaining the delegates. Two of the banquets were unique. At the meat packers’ annual dinner there were 600 guests, all in scarlet hunting coats. A man on horseback and a pack of hounds patrolled the room between the tables for a time. Questioned regarding the Meat Trust, Mr Pearse said the rivalry between the competing interests made combined action impossible. The prices paid for cattle were so high that they must bo losing sdol to 7dol on each beast. Mr Pearse is of opinion that the Panama Canal at first will do more harm than good, so far as our interest is concerned. (t would bring Argentine and Uruguan meat and butter in quick time to the Pacific, where so far Australia had a monopoly. A large trade was bound to develop. A much quicker service and

larger refrigerated tonnage was urgently needed by Australia and New Zealand for the Pacific Coast.