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TAXING RIDING HORSES USED BY VETERINARY SURGEONS. 
To the Editors of e The Veterinarian , 
Gentlemen, — In the Act of Parliament passed last year 
for levying taxes upon horses, the amount to be paid for a 
riding horse is one guinea ; but there is an exemption clause, 
which says that any person duly qualified to act as a phy- 
sician, surgeon, or apothecary, shall be charged only ten 
shillings and sixpence ; and, as I wished to ascertain whether 
veterinary surgeons were included in this exemption clause, 
I appealed against the greater charge. Her Majesty’s Com- 
missioner held that veterinary surgeons were not included in 
the exemption ; the judges, however, overruled his statement, 
and gave it as their opinion that, as it was not stated in the 
clause what description of surgeon was to be exempted, and 
as veterinary surgeons held diplomas entitling them to prac- 
tice, they had as great a right to the exemption as others. 
Her Majesty’s Commissioner stated that, under these circum- 
stances, he would only charge ten and sixpence in my case, 
but he would not lay it down as a rule to be acted upon in 
other cases until he had obtained the opinion of the judges 
at Edinburgh. How they may decide remains to be seen, 
but I think that, as professional men, we have an undoubted 
right to be included in the exemption. Your opinion re- 
garding this will much oblige. 
Yours, &c. Charles Moir, Y.S. 
Paisley ; March 12, 1855. 
[We may congratulate Mr. Moir on having been successful 
in his appeal against the charge of one guinea as a tax upon 
a riding horse, but we are of opinion that, taking the strictly 
legal view of the question, veterinary surgeons are not exempt 
from this payment. Their claim to the exemption is, we 
consider, equally as just as that of surgeons and apothecaries, 
and we should be glad to see the question taken up by the 
Council of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, with 
a view to the removal of the impost, by representing the 
matter in its true light to the proper authorities. A prece- 
dent is of the utmost importance in things of this kind, and 
we have it in the case before us.] 
OFFICE OF ORDNANCE. 
Royal Regiment of Artillery. 
John Mason, gent., to be veterinary surgeon. 
Thomas John Williamson, gent., to be veterinary surgeon. 
London Gazette, March 12th, 1855. 
