REMARKS ON QUEEN’S PLATES. 
81 
saying, a broad heavy cart collar on bis neck ; then a cart-horse 
harness with a strong breeching is procured, from which ropes are 
extended to each stall-post, also ropes from the neck collar to the 
rack. With these three points of support I have, in numerous in- 
stances, kept the patient on his legs lor a fortnight most advan- 
tageously, and without any serious amount of wringing. 
It will be perceived that, by these homely arrangements, the re- 
quirements are only those which every farm-house readily affords. 
I am, dear Mr. Editor, 
Your’s very truly, &c. 
Croydon, Jan. 18th, 1848. 
REMARKS ON QUEEN’S PLATES. 
By William Goodwin, M.R.C.S., Vet. Surgeon to the Queen. 
[These remarks have been called forth by the perusal of a 
printed brochure from the pen of Mr. Cherry, Principal Veterinary 
Surgeon to the Army, wherein it is suggested that the money 
annually granted for the encouragement of racing, by the support 
of Queen’s Plates, might be devoted with more advantage to the 
maintenance of a certain number of stallions, for covering eligible 
mares, the property of farmers and breeders, with a view of restor- 
ing a breed of horses (hunters, roadsters, and cavalry horses, able 
to carry weight) said to be on the decline.] 
Of late years, it has become quite fashionable to complain of 
the sum our Government expends in the shape of King’s Plates ; 
and it is to remove an erroneous impression, only imbibed by 
those who know but little of racing matters, that I take up my 
pen, to endeavour to answer some of the points in Mr. Cherry’s 
brochure on the subject ; since argument, from such authority 
as the Principal Veterinary Surgeon of the Army, is likely to 
carry weight in the minds of many. I am not, however, afraid of 
the Legislature ever consenting to the taking away of these 
Plates, there being too many members of both Houses of Parlia- 
ment who know that the race is the only criterion of the goodness 
of the animal, and for that reason would never consent to such a 
proposition. 
The amount expended in the shape of King’s Plates is (not 
£2000 annually — as stated by Mr. Cherry) but 3600 guineas 
in England and Scotland, and 1600 guineas in Ireland. The 
distances vary considerably, as well as the weights ; but in no 
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