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THE STATE AS FARMER 



of good horses might result in our best stock 

 reaching Germany and Austria at a lower 

 price than they were worth, and that we were 

 thus subsidising the export of our best instead 

 of forbidding it. I have also submitted that 

 the show system did nothing to secure the 

 best in a horse, for the best is what one may 

 describe as character, which a show, from the 

 very nature of the case, cannot prove. The 

 larger proposal I am now making, however? 

 includes the less. If the State is master of all 

 farming and breeding operations, it will become 

 its own master of the horse. Each unit will 

 require its own stud, and the country as 

 a whole can keep a check on the industry. 

 To save misunderstanding, I should perhaps 

 explain that I do not object to horses and 

 mares going from this country to the colonies 

 and other parts of the world. Horse-breeding 

 is an important industry that should be 

 encouraged. I only urge that the sums spent 

 by the Government should have a direct 

 bearing upon, and should include control 

 of, the said industry, in order that as far 

 as may be possible we shall always reserve 

 our best, that the foundation of it — both 



