12 



Exports of British Live Stock. 



attention. The numbers of stallions, mares and geldings 

 shipped in each year were as follows ; — 



Years. 



Stallions. 



Mares. 



Geldings. 



1894 - - - 



259 



2,891 



13,307 



1895 - - - 



583 



3,603 



17,378 



1896 - - - 



617 



4,586 



24,211 



1897 - - - 



590 



7,130 



26,751 



1898 - - - 



528 



7,928 



27,956 



For the first of the five years quoted the declared value of 

 the aggregate consignments of all kinds of horses was 

 £450,000, from which level there was an uninterrupted rise 

 yearly to £842,000 in 1898. The details of this latter sum 

 are not yet available; but in 1897, when the total shipments 

 were valued at £825,000, stallions accounted for £68,000, 

 mares for £272,000, and geldings for £485,000. 



The value per head of the animals shipped varies con- 

 siderably, the range being widest, as a rule, in the exports of 

 entire horses, which sometimes include celebrated racing 

 stallions and other pure blood sires. As an example of the 

 extent to which the exportation of a few thoroughbreds of this 

 class may affect the trade returns of a single year, reference 

 may be 'made to the accounts for 1894, which 

 included two stallions, valued at £18,000, sent to Austria. 

 But these entries have their set-off in a shipment recorded in 

 the same year of a stallion declared to be worth only £10. 

 Similar divergences, though not so extreme, occur in other 

 years. In 1897 the range was from £26 to £430. It is evi- 

 dent, therefore, that the mixed character of the trade makes an 

 average based upon the total figures an imperfect indication 

 of the class of animal in demand. 



Subject to these various considerations, it may be noted 

 that Germany has been the principal destination of the 

 British and Irish stallions exported in recent years, and that 

 regular shipments have been made, on a smaller scale, to 

 France, Russia, the Cape, Argentina, and the United States. 

 The average value per head of the consignment of entire horses 

 in 1897 t0 each of the countries named in the above order 

 was £55, £430, £170, £218, £130, and £226 respectively. 



