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 
