1920.] Decontrol of Meat and Live Stock. 



309 



open, are the natural reservoirs from which our national 

 breeds of light horses are derived, and from which these breeds 

 re-invigorate temperament, courage and resource. The value 

 of the mountain and moorland ponies as a factor in the breeding 

 of English light horses depends upon the purely natural condi- 

 tions of their life in the forest, on the hills and on moors. Amid 

 adverse conditions, they possess resource, endurance and 

 courage, as well as the hardiness of constitution and soundness 

 of stamina that make the infusion of their blood into other breeds 

 so powerful for good. Their ancestral strain can be traced 

 in the English racehorse, together with the blood derived from 

 the Great Horse of England and from the Barbs of Africa, 

 Arabia, Syria and Turkey. In the eighteenth century, ponies 

 were largely used for racing, and gave ample evidence of blood 

 and courage; Towards the end of that century they had 

 received a large mixture of Eastern blood, and were famous as 

 racehorses proper. These ponies came chiefly from the Fell 

 districts of Westmorland, Cumberland, Wales, Exmoor and 

 the New Forest. Proof of their prowess on the course exists 

 in the General Stud Book, where records, a hundred and hirty 

 years' old, confirm the mixed origin of the English racehorse, 

 which was not derived, as is generally supposed, from pure 

 Eastern strain. The fact is, rather, that the Eastern blood 

 gained greatly by its admixture with pony blood. The first 

 reference to the influence of native ponies on the racehorse 

 dates from the reign of James T, and Gervase Markham makes 

 special note of the mental qualities of a racing pony of native 

 descent. He attributes these virtues to the wild, natural life 

 led by the pony's ancestors. Breeders are aware that the 

 thoroughbred, now an established race, can receive no further 

 benefit from the Arab or the pony. In the cases of the hunter, 

 the polo pony, and the hackney, however, the opportunity of 

 improvement still exists. For these, their breeders still seek 

 finer action and greater endurance, which, fortunately, are 

 obtainable by a recurrence to the original pony ancestor of the 

 modern thoroughbred. Infusion of pony blood from mountain 

 and moorland reservoirs is required to re-invigorate our li,e:ht 

 horses. 



Decontrol of home-produced meat and live stock became 



effective on 4th July, when the guaranteed price to the British 



farmer — the basic fact of live stock control 

 Decontrol of Meat 1 t-i i. j • j i_ 



and Live Stock, "teased. The guaranteed price had been 



in operation since 27th December, 1917. 



The original guarantee was to have expired at the end of 



