73 



stand to prove that any witness who ven- 

 tured to comment upon harness horses and 

 the advisability of stimulating their pro- 

 duction, was not encouraged to give in- 

 formation. 



What little evidence was accepted in 

 regard to harness horses showed the exis- 

 tence of a growing demand for the best 

 Roadster stock in continental countries. 

 French, Italian, German and Austrian 

 breeders were fully alive to the value of 

 Hackney blood, and their agents coming 

 every year to England for the purpose 

 since about 1840 had purchased all the 

 good stallions they could find to foster and 

 promote the breeding of horses eminently 

 suitable for carriage artillery and transport 

 work. 



Mr. J. East, of the firm of Phillips and 

 East, said that the French agents "buy the 

 very best mares they can get ; you cannot 

 get them to buy a bad mare." The late 

 Mr. H. R. Phillips stated in course of his 

 evidence that his firm sent "from thirty to 

 forty of these roadster stallions every year 

 to France and Italy and different countries ; 

 they sent as many as they could procure." 

 When asked how the number of Hackney 

 stallions exported at that date compared with 



