Remounts for the Army 505 



the Government was faced with a great diffi- 

 culty. The number of horses available for 

 peace times did not come up to the require- 

 ments of traction in war times. 



Meanwhile, the Daily Mail reminded us, 

 at the beginning of the year, that the horse- 

 breeding season starts about the end of March, 

 and the one for 1913 promised to be much the 

 most disastrous known. Small farmers have 

 quite given up horse-breeding. The English 

 Government, unlike the German and French 

 and Austrian Governments, has done nothing 

 to remedy the defect. Unless something is 

 done the transition period, which Colonel Seely 

 mentioned in his speech, will end in the extinc- 

 tion of the British war horse. The horses 

 bred under the development grant scheme go 

 for the most part abroad. 



We feel justified, therefore, in again calling- 

 attention to the matter, and asking those more 

 capable than we are to decide whether re- 

 mounts for the Army cannot be raised on 

 coco-nut estates. In face of the above state- 

 ments, made, it will be noticed, by the highest 

 authorities, the question of raising remounts 

 in the Colonies should not be allowed to rest. 



Whilst on this subject of stock-raising on 

 coco-nut estates it may be of interest to add 

 that, according to the Journal of the Board of 

 Agriculture (England), it is clear that when 

 coco-nut poonac was fed to cattle the butter 

 made from their milk was much firmer ; those, 



