Horse Dealing. 187 



purposes ; and say, half that number, by the Madras authori- 

 ties. Though inclined to have plain heads and drooping croups, 

 the Autralasian horses have, as a rule, remarkably good legs and 

 feet, and capital shoulders for saddle work. The dealers, such 

 as Macklin, Hunter, Stevens, Gascard, Ralli, Cavanagh, Dirom, 

 Margarett, Gidney, Madden, Green, Hastie, Hegarty, Haw- 

 kins, Gove, Macintosh, Macaulay and others, bring them over 

 in batches of from 50 to 400. The horses are mostly four or 

 five years old, and average in cost about £15 a piece, to 

 which must be added £10 or £\2 for freight and expenses, 

 and, say, £3 or £\ for casualties. They can therefore be 

 landed for about ^30 or thirty guineas a head. As Govern- 

 ment gives from £40 to £45 a piece for its remounts, and as 

 it buys without imposing any harassing delay or expense, 

 the ' shippers ' are generally anxious to submit their new 

 arrivals to the Remount Agent, who reserves to himself the 

 right of selecting for army purposes as many or as few as he 

 likes ; the dealer being allowed to reserve some for private 

 sale. This system has been found to act admirably in the 

 hands of poor ' Bill ' Thacker, ' Ben ' Roberts, ' Tommy ' St 

 Quintin, and P. K. Beaver, who, as Remount Agents, have 

 been singularly moderate in using their influence to get horses 

 ' on the cheap ' for either themselves or their friends. As the 

 Government purchases are, as a rule, made in October, the 

 majority of these shipments arrive in that month. After the 

 Remount Agent has had his pick, the shipper submits the 

 remainder to the private market, and often, while waiting for 

 it, loses a good deal of time and money. He, probably, has 

 to hang on to the end of February, by which time, the 

 weather is becoming hot, the residents are making prepara- 

 tions to rlit to the Hills or to England, and the tired-out 

 dealer wants to get back to the Colonies to see about getting 

 together another importation for the following October. On 

 the principle of the first loss being the least, he will generally 

 sell those that are left at a very small price, or, failing an 

 offer, will put them up to auction to the highest bidder. From 



