PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE. 
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navy with ships of war. (Hear, hear.) As regarded the scarcity 
of horses, he could only say that last year he saw in London three 
racers sold in less than three minutes for a£27,000, the cheapest of 
them fetching 6000 guineas. The scarcity in question he attributed 
to various causes, amongst which foreign exportation bore a con¬ 
spicuous place. Within the last six years, it was no exaggeration to 
say that 14,000 mares had been shipped from Hull and Harwich 
alone. Valuable old breeds, and notably the coach-horse, the hack, 
and the roadster, had all but disappeared. He proceeded to read 
extracts from Lord Ossington, Lord Portsmouth, Mr. Chaplin, and 
others, in confirmation of his position that horses were never known 
to be so scarce and dear as at the present time. Even as to cart¬ 
horses, he learned from the Great Northern Railway, which em¬ 
ployed 13,000, that they were now paying 70 per cent, more for 
them than they were ten years ago. In Wales there had been an 
increase in the number of horses, but not so great an increase as 
might have been expected considering the wonderful development 
of wealth and industry. In Ireland the number had fallen from 
602,894 in lb62, to 540,745 in 1872. In England the falling off 
in 1871 alone, in brood mares and horses for agricultural purposes, 
had been no less than 14,867, namely, from 977,707 to 962,840 ; 
whereas the tramways alone ought to have appeared for at least as 
great an increase. The gravity of these facts in the event of war 
need not be dwelt upon. In 1871 the Department required 2000 
additional horses for the autumn manoeuvres, and of this number 
1250 had to be imported from France. At the end of the man¬ 
oeuvres, when the animals had to be resold, they were in such a 
plight that the Government had to submit to a loss of £20 per 
head. It is calculated that in the event of a war we should require 
2000 more horses to mount the cavalry, and 4000 more to complete 
the horsing of the artillery. But he was told that it would take 
three months to get together half that number at double prices; 
and though a poet was said to be born, a charger required to be 
made, and the time it took was five months. It was stated that the 
autumn manoeuvres would have to be given up this year unless the 
Government were prepared to propose a very much larger estimate. 
As in the case of coal, the matter was extremely urgent. Our navy 
was supplied with fuel from America, and the old joke had become 
f ac t—people were literally sending coals to Newcastle. In like 
manner England, once renowned as a breeding country, was obliged 
to import her horses. Surely such a state of things demanded 
the most comprehensive and searching inquiry that it was possible 
to make.* (Cheers.) 
Earl Granville warmly complimented the noble earl on his 
speech, but said that, so far from Admiral Rous being in a minority 
of one, there was not another person in the world who agreed with 
him. There could be no doubt as to the rise in the prices of 
horses, but the chief reason for it was the extraordinary competi¬ 
tion occasioned by the recent sudden and unexampled development 
of the wealth of the country. He had the greatest possible doubt 
