856 VISITS TO REMOUNT DEPOT AT SAHARUN PORE. 
and none for individual establishments, for which merely a cash¬ 
book was kept by their respective commandants. There was 
one exception, however, viz., that at the India house for stallions. 
No attempt appears to have been made officially to estimate the 
cost of each horse. When the various sources of expense, sub¬ 
sequent to purchase, are taken into consideration, no wonder 
that it has been found difficult to arrive at a true conclusion as 
to the expense of remounts by the time they join for service. In 
some instances a youngster is bought at six months, kept till he 
arrives at three to four years of age, does not then turn out 
satisfactory, and is rejected. There are travelling expenses, 
outlay of men attending purchase of stock, expenses of farm. 
Allowances had to be made to Assamni for breeding, keep of 
stallions, for cultivation of grain crop, &c., and some of these I 
understand remain to this day unadjusted. The startling number 
of rejections during the stud system point to an enormous loss, 
amounting as they did to at least fifty per cent, of the produce 
purchased and bred. The present system, that of purchasing horses 
from four to seven years of age, ought to be an improvement, as the 
calculation of expense is evidently more simple, and the risk of 
unfitness by misadventure much less; but there are still two 
great drawbacks, viz. general unfitness and unsoundness. The 
latter could certainly be prevented by the more perfect recogni¬ 
tion of veterinary aid. The former would indicate that my 
scepticism as to the skill of purchasers is in some instances con¬ 
firmed, and that, as a rule, such misfits can be avoided I 
affirm, from personal inspection of the animals bought by one 
particular agent, which exhibited that consistency of judgment 
essential in selection of horses. 
Taking the establishment of studs in India during a period 
of seventy years as a commercial enterprise, it must be, and is, 
admitted to have resulted in absolute loss; but the question 
arises. Has not the country been enriched by the general 
improvement in breed of horses ? The answer is, yes ; but, un¬ 
fortunately, the structure raised during this long time is totter¬ 
ing, if not destroyed, by the absorption of parent stock, since 
the apparently ill-advised total abolition of studs. I understand 
that stallions and mares have become almost totally extinct, in con¬ 
sequence of neglect on the part of the natives into whose hands 
they have fallen. 
Another system has now, however, been started, which must 
secure the best wishes of all connected with horse interests in 
India—it is that of stallions provided by Government to serve 
mares at a very small price, no restrictions whatever—not even 
that of first refusal, as in Zemindar system—being placed upon 
the owners of the mares, Government competing on fair terms 
