FEARNLEY ON CALKS, ETC. 179 



what lie says to heart : ' There could be no better 

 service rendered to the horse universe than the 

 passing of an Act of Parliament rendering it a mis- 

 demeanour for any one shoeing a horse to reduce 

 the thickness of his soles or frog ' he omits to 

 state the evils of cutting out the bars * or to put 

 under his heels or quarters iron exceeding a defined 

 thickness, except under the certificate of a qualified 

 veterinary surgeon, who should, after examining the 

 horse, explain the need for the same. Horses, like 

 every other property, are national property, and a 

 man owning them mediately has no more right to 

 deface them than he has to deface the coin of the 

 realm, which he also owns only mediately. * What 

 is mine is my own ' is still the creed, not only of the 

 vulgar, but of those who ought, at least, to know 

 the rudiments of political economy.' 



The writer thinks with Mr. Fearnley, that the 

 question should be one for the Government ; but 

 then there is that awful red tape, which, slight as it 

 is to look at, holds progress in bonds. So there is 

 no hope from that quarter for the present. It is 

 only two years ago that Mr. Fearnley expressed 

 himself thus, and it is possible that no member of 

 either the late or the present Government, even if 

 they read his book, bestowed any attention upon it, 

 although there is, perhaps, not a single member of 

 either that has not been at loss and inconvenience 

 through a horse being badly shod. That makes 

 no difference to them. They have their political 

 squabbles to keep up over aliens, and we and our 



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