322 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



THE TRADE IN HORSES FROM AUSTRALIA. 



• Wo called attention, not long since, to the trade in 

 horses from the Cffpe colony to India, which had proved 

 so beneficial to the Cape horse-breeders; and we would 

 now bring forward a few facts respecting the progress 

 of horse-breeding in Australia. These cannot but be 

 interesting, as affording evidence of the relative num- 

 bers and progress of the horse kind in the several colo- 

 nics, and the prospects of beneficial results to be derived 

 from breeding for shipment to Indiaatid other quarters. 

 By searching through the oflieial slatistical returns of 

 the colonies, we find I he following to have been the 

 number of horses belonging to the several colonies — 



1055. 1856, 1857. 



New South Wales 158,159 168 929 180,053 



Vi'itoria 33,430 47,832 55,683 



S-.uth Australia — 22,260 26,220 



Western Australia 4,S87 5,408 7,214 



Tasmania 18,358 18,019 19,187 



New ZcslaLd — — 10,589 



As the demand for horses for cavalry purposes in 

 India is greatly increasing, the Government are wisely 

 adopting more jiermanent measures to meet the supply, 

 instead of resorting to the temporary and occasional 

 purchases, which can seldom be successful. Our last 

 Australian advices report that the Governor-General 

 had received a despatch announcing the intention of 

 the Queen's Government in India to form a permanent 

 depot for cavalry-horses, in a locale in the neighbour- 

 hood of Sydney, convenient for their ready shipment. 



It is further notified that Colonel Atkinson is the 

 oflicer appointed to take charge of the depot. This 

 gentleman accompanied Colonel Kobbinsto the Austra- 

 lian colonics when the pressing emergencies attendant 

 on the mutiny of the sepoys rendered a large and speedy 

 supply of troop-horses a desideratum, and the pur- 

 chases which were Uiade in many instances were consi- 

 dered disadvantiigeous by the military authorities at 

 Calcutta. Colonel Atkinson himself perceived the un- 

 favourable position in which he and Colonel Robbins 

 were placed ; having but indifferent means of selection, 

 being compelled to make hasty purchases, and to con- 

 tend with many difficult obstacles. Before he left Syd- 

 ney, Colonel Atkinson expressed his intention, upon his 

 return to India, to urge upon the Commander-in-chief 

 the expediency of forming a permanent depot near Port 

 Jackson, where horses, purchased at favourable oppor- 

 tunities, might be depastured, broken in, and shipped 

 at convenient intervals. He observed that on several 

 occasions, when a horse-ship was on the eve of sailing, 

 the full draught could only be completed by the pur- 

 chase of inferior stock ; whilst in a week or so after the 

 sailing of the ship first-rate horses were offered for 

 sale. When, some years ago, Capt^iin Apperley formed 

 a depot at Bungarrabee, which is only twenty-three 

 miles from Sydney, and where he purchased cavalry 

 horses on account of the East India Company, he saw 

 the great importance of a fixed and permanent station, 

 ai;d, in earnest terms, he endeavoured to impress upon 

 the Company the inexpediency of breaking up the 

 establishment. His remonstrances were made in vain ; 

 he and his brother-oiiicers were recalled; and thus a 

 most impolitic step was taken, bitterly, and too late 

 regretted, when the mutiny throughout'the native regi- 

 ments assumed its formidable and frightful aspect. 

 Profiting by the lamentable experience oV the past, her 

 i\[;tjesty's Government in India have now resolved to 

 adopt the course unsuccessfully recommended by Cap- 



tain Apperley some fourteen years ago, and again by 

 Colonel Atkinson, on his recent return from New South 

 Wales, and the latter officer was expected to arrive at 

 Sydney by an early mail-steamship. This arrangement 

 will be hailed with the highest satisfaction by the 

 breeders of horse- stock in the Australian colonies. 



During the last eleven years, the exports of horses 

 from New South Wales have been steady, but certainly 

 not of that extent which may now be anticipated. Pi'e- 

 vious to 1857, the official statistics did not distinguish 

 the shipments to the different countries importing 

 Australian horses, but the total number shipped during 

 the nine previous years was as follows : — 



1848 1,181 



1849 

 1850 



1,135 

 830 



1851 1,941 



770 



1853 907 



1854.... r 1,179 



1855 



1866 



1,282 

 1,948 



1852 



Making a total of 11,173 horses, whilst since the latter 

 date the exports are shown in a form to distinguish 

 the shipments to India from those of other countries as 

 follows : 



2,218 £52,040 6,384 £32,681 



Showing gross totals of 8,602 horses shipped, of the 

 declared value in sterling of £85,721 ; figures which 

 abundantly testify as to the capacity of New South 

 Wales to supply the cavalry of the Indian army with 

 any number of horses which the exigencies of the ser- 

 vice may rcrjuire. 



In reference to the general export of horse stock sea- 

 ward, from New South Wales, as shown above, we must 

 also call attention to the large overland traffic between 

 the colony and Victoria, via Albury, Belvoir, and other 

 crossing places ; and also between New South Wales 

 and South Australia. The official returns of this traffic 

 have lately been published, for the fir-st time, in the 

 Statistical Register of the Registrar-General. They 

 show that during ] 858 there were sent over the river 

 Murray to Victoria 5,953 hoi'ses, and received back 

 577, making a net export of 5,376, valued at £107,520. 

 To South Australia there were sent 812 horses, valued 

 at £16,740; making a total sent overland, of 6,765 

 horses, less 577 imported from Victoria. In addition 

 to these officially recorded exports, there is no doubt 

 that horses have been taken across the borders at places 

 where no records are kept; and Mr. Rolleston well ob- 

 serves that, considering the great extent of the frontier-, 

 and the want of proper officers to collect the informa- 

 tion, it is more than probable that a considerable num- 

 ber has escaped detection. " Suflicient information, 

 however" (remarks the Sydney Herald), "is given in 

 these overland returns to show how large a develop- 

 ment of the pastoral resources may be looked for by 

 the opening up of water communication within our 

 territory, to the extent of upwards of 2,000 miles, by 

 way of the Murray and Murrumbidgee, and over 1,000 

 miles up the courses of the Edward and Darling Rivers, 

 one of the most valuable features in the history of the 

 colony, and promising results of the highest value, from 



