1 [ae 
454 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Junez, 1900. 
TOTAL NUMBERS AND VALUES OF HORSES EXPORTED TO INDIA DURING 
THE SEVERAL YEARS INDICATED. 
New Sourn WaAtEs. 
£ 
1889 me 190 horses, value Pee 2900 
re a - Pegaltosl 
1891 i 14) ie is reas S00 
TBO 0 syasier teak SGC ahs beet ... 19,490 B= 
1893 or 1 3} ass 3) an Sypyie) ; —_ 
Vicroria. 
1889 to 1898 16,800 horses, value ... 402,500 
SourH AUSTRALIA. 
1889 ne el gs: ee Scr Nil 
1890 to 1893 966 horses, value eLg320 
QUEENSLAND. 
1889 Ser Nil zt es er. Nil 
1890 dex 257 horses, value ax Wivvdd) 
1891 orn Nil oO zs cu Nil 
L892 Sees: 240 horses, value emi 42, 
1893 ah 961 horses, value aa CBE 
It will be thus seen that during the past five years no less than 21,798 
horses have been exported from the above Australian ports, representing a total 
money value of £482,403 sterling, or an average of a Petion over £22 2s, 8d. 
er head. 
; As the majority of these horses have been purchased by dealers from as 
low a price as £7 per head, and a decent horse fit for the Indian remount 
service is worth, in Calcutta, not less than from £46 to £53, it will be easily 
seen that the middleman secures the lion’s share of the profit to the detriment 
of the breeder. 
This calls for some reform in the manner of disposing of horses for India, 
and until this has been accomplished the Australian breeder will not reap the 
full benefit of this highly remunerative enterprise. 
The extortionate charge of the middlemen is a serious drawback to the _ 
advancement of the producer at the present time all over the world. 
The middlemen have been termed a “numerous and formidable class of 
social parasites,” and are Bre vecally described in a little volume entitle 
“Colonial Couplets,” published by Simpson and Williams, Christchurch, New 
Zealand, from which | extract the following :— 
There’s a man who plays a paying game, 
Whatever he may say, 
Whose name is a great and mighty name 
Over the world to-day ; 
Who stands at ease where others fall— 
Where others sink, can swim ; 
While those who toil and spin—yes, all— 
Work, sweat, live, die for him: 
He’s an absolute ruler, deny it who can, 
Our modern monarch, King Middleman. 
* 
There’s a trick to swell each big account, 
And every little bill, 
= Each item in the grand amount 
Insensibly to fill ; ; Fast 
For they charge to buy and then to sell; 
—— They charge for charging, too, 
; And then charge you for me as well, 
Then me for charging you. 
Tis a marvellous science, deny it who can, 
The double game of the Middleman. 
