Report upon the Exhibition of Horses at Kilburn. 589 
his valuable evidence before Lord Rosebery's Committee, 
jNIr. Church stated, in March 1873, that nearly all the horses 
employed by his company came from abroad, for the simple 
reason that they could not be obtained at all in England. " It 
is not an affair of price," he said, " but of absolute scarcity." 
The average price per horse had risen from 22)1. in 1866 to 34/. 
in 1873 ; and in the last Report for the half-year ending June 
30, 1879, I find that the average cost of their horses, notwith- 
standing the universal depression of prices, had risen to more 
than 39Z. Replying to a question from Lord Rosebery as to 
any possible remedies for increasing the supply of English horses 
in this class, Mr. Church said, " The only remedy that I have 
heard of which strikes me as at all feasible, is that encourage- 
ment should be given to farmers to breed horses," Six years 
have since passed ; and in the last Report, from which I have 
just quoted, it is stated that, although there has been no reduc- 
tion in price, " the supply of English horses has so much im- 
proved, that the company have had no difficulty in obtaining all 
their requirements from the English market." This is, un- 
doubtedly, a statement of great value ; but I dare not flatter 
myself that within the last six years there has been any marked 
increase in the production by English farmers of omnibus horses, 
much as I should wish to believe it. The truth probably is, 
that by reason of the general economy necessitated by hard 
times, which have compelled so many broughams, phaetons, and 
carriages to be given up by the middle classes, the purchasers 
employed by Mr. Church have been exposed to much less severe 
competition. Judging by the official returns, the number of 
horses in England of this class remains about the same, but 
there is much less demand for them than in 1872 and 1873, and 
thus they have fallen sufficiently in price to come within the 
purchasing powers of the London General Omnibus Company. 
Now it is undeniable that if, in conformity with Mr. Church's 
suggestion, English farmers could be encouraged to breed horses 
of this class, it would, on patriotic grounds, be a great boon to 
England. Many of the omnibus horses seen in the streets of 
London and other large English towns are precisely of the class 
wanted for our artillery, but war upon a large scale would at 
once drive us once more for a supply to the foreign market. 
Happily there is, in the United States and in Canada, an almost 
inexhaustible reserve of animals adapted for this purpose ; but 
in case of a large and sudden demand, prices would instantly be 
raised against us. It seems to me that the Royal Agricultural 
Society would be discharg-ing a wise and beneficent office if 
they were to expunge from their equine Prize-sheet some of the 
fancy classes, and to hold out inducements to farmers to devote 
