CHAPTER IV 



CAUSE OF DETERIORATION 



The cause of deterioration is the same in Australia 

 as in England, and has been several times referred 

 to by many of the authorities above mentioned. 

 Rudyard Kipling has 'spotted' it. It is 'sport.' 

 Sport has permeated society, and is ruining England 

 {vide the Quarterly and Blackwood for January, and 

 Maanillan for February, 1904). The same craving 

 for sport which gives us the ' flannelled fools at the 

 wicket or the muddied oafs at the goals ' has brought 

 about a ruin of horse-flesh which is appalling. 

 ' The officers in garrison at Ladysmith before the 

 war played tennis instead of studying the topography 

 of the country ' {Qitarterly Review, July, 1 902). Nero 

 fiddled while Rome was burning. 



Sport has become in a large degree the be-all and 

 the end-all of horse-breeding. As Mr. Tom Mann 

 observes [Adelaide Observer, October, 1902) : 'Too 

 much interest is shown in the pedigree of a "gee- 

 gee," the qualities of a " gee-gee," and which " gee- 

 gee " should be backed.' 



There must be ' something ' in it when the great 

 poet and the great Socialist agree. 



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