410 A FARMER'S YEAR 



these unfortunate animals especially those of them that are 

 brought from overseas must suffer more than most people 

 imagine ; at any rate, I am sure that I saw suffering written large 

 on some of them to-day. But they cannot complain, and if they 

 try to resist, the stout ash stick of the drover is waiting for them. 

 Indeed, the brutality of these men, or some of them, especially 

 when a little in liquor, is shocking. I saw them again and again 

 striking the cattle in their charge without the slightest necessity and 

 generally about the head, I suppose because experience teaches 

 them that there animals are most sensitive to pain. Indeed, in 

 one case a passer-by appealed to me to put a stop to the thing, but 

 as there was no policeman in sight, what could I do ? I presume 

 that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has 

 local inspectors. Where were they? But at best it might be 

 difficult to secure conviction in such a case, as the offenders 

 would swear that it was necessary to thrash the beasts in order to 

 keep them in their places. 



A week or two ago, through the kindness of a friend, I had the 

 opportunity of tendering for, and very probably of obtaining, a 

 large contract to supply hay, straw, roots, &c., to an Institution in 

 London to the value perhaps of about i,ooo/. a year. The prices 

 that the Institution was willing to pay seemed to be quite 

 satisfactory, the only question being whether or no the cost of 

 carriage would absorb any profit which it might be possible to 

 make. I have now made inquiries to find that this is absolutely 

 prohibitive. To deliver hay in London from Ditchingham that 

 is at Liverpool Street, not reckoning the expenses of cartage 

 involves a charge of 19^. zd. a ton, whereas straw figures out at 

 no less than i/. 2S. 9^., although roots can be carried at 6s. 6d. if 

 a truckful is sent. So there is an end of that scheme, which is 

 a pity, since, if the carriage had been cheaper, many others 

 besides myself would have benefited by it, as I should have 

 bought up considerable quantities of produce in the neighbour- 

 hood. A gentleman to whom I was talking at the Norwich Club 

 to-day told me that, in his capacity of trustee or executor to a large 



