322 



Horse-Breeding Scheme. 



[august, 



that the present supply of horses in the country would probably 

 nearly meet the requirements of that Department. The 

 known number of horses in the country is 2,089,000. Those 

 are agricultural and young horses, but that number does not 

 include the horses in the towns 



"Though there is no alarm for the present, the future does 

 cause the War Office no little anxiety. As the noble Earl 

 opposite has said, there were 10,000 fewer foals in 1906 than in 

 1905, and, therefore, it is the duty of the Government, in the 

 agricultural interest as well as in that of the Army, to take 

 the whole matter in hand. The scheme is practically the regis- 

 tration of a large number of suitable stallions, say 500, and of a 

 large number of suitable mares — we ought, eventually, to 

 have no less than 25,000 brood mares. The registration of their 

 stock would be approved by the military authorities, but no 

 breeding animal would be accepted unless, first, it was passed by 

 a civil veterinary surgeon as sound for breeding purposes, and, 

 secondly, by a remount officer certifying it as suitable for the 

 Army. All registered animals would thus be officially certified 

 as sound. That is, I think, a most important matter, because 

 it would discredit, if it did not altogether knock out, the un- 

 sound animals that are now travelling about the country. 

 The ultimate object, and it would not take many years, would 

 be to secure the breeding annually of 15,000 foals of the various 

 classes registered, so that we might be able at a moment's 

 notice to put our hands on the 70,000 horses required in the 

 case of sudden mobilisation. That relates entirely to the First 

 .Line, and does not bring in the Territorials at all. 



"We propose to give a special fee to the stallion owner, 

 in addition to the covering fee, for every registered mare which 

 is found to be in foal to the registered stallion at the end of the 

 covering season. I know a good many people would sooner 

 see the money go to the mares, but I am not certain that this 

 plan would be the better of the two. If you gave a certain 

 amount to each travelling stallion, at the end of the covering 

 season it would amount to a very considerable sum, and it would 

 make the owners of these stallions missionaries, so to speak, in the 

 movement. When a mare was brought to the horse the owner of 

 the stallion would ask : Is she registered ? If she were not 

 registered he would not get the additional fee, and, therefore, he 



