1 June, 1900.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL, 485 
ENDURANCE OF THE AUSTRALIAN HORSE. 
Of the endurance, staying power, or what is termed ‘‘bottom,” of the 
Australian horse, many instances can be given. In 1878 I rode with a weight 
of 13 stone, a halfbred Cleveland 95 miles in one day, between the hours of 
6 o’clock am. and 10 o'clock p.m., with only two breaks of three- -quarters of an 
hour each. Mr. Galvayne, the Australian horse- trainer, mentions having 
ridden a mare 168 miles in two days; and a Mr. Archie Ferguson, of Wallon, 
on the Dawson River, Queensland, rode a little horse named Billy Button 
70 miles between midnight and daylight of the following morning; a Mr. 
T. 8. Collins, of Eton Vale, Queensland, rode a horse named Bonnie Doon 
104 miles between the hours of 8 a.m. and sundown; a Mr. P. Bolger, on a 
horse named Boomerang, near Rockhampton, rode 105 miles between sunrise 
and sunset; a doctor at Mudgee drove a pair of ponies 120 miles, to see a 
patient, within one day; a Mr. Evans, who rides 17 stone, rode in one day from 
a station near Hillston to Hay, a distance of 11] miles; a Mr. Henry, who 
resides near Swanhill, has a station 110 miles distant, and he frequently drives 
this distance with halfbred Clevelands of his own breeding on the one day, 
returning the next—making a journey of 222 miles in two consecutive days. 
None of the horses above referred to suffered in the slightest degree from the 
effects of these long and tedious journeys. When one considers the rough 
treatment that horses receive, travelling day after day a long overland journey 
from dawn to dark, many nights with no greater refreshment than a whack on 
the rump with the ‘bridlé as “they are turned out to grass on land many times 
as bare as your hand, it is simply marvellous the endurance of many of the 
Australian horses, 
TAX ON STALLIONS. 
I quite concur with the remarks of the major-general that it would be in 
the interests of all concerned if a tax were imposed on all stallions in this colony. 
This, however, would have to receive the support and concurrence of each of 
the other colonies to render it effective—it would require to be, in effect, a 
federal law. 
The colony of Queensland has taken the initiative with regard to this 
matter, and the Press of that colony is teeming with letters on the subject, 
dealing with its pros and cons. Some of the writers aver that the imposition of 
this tax interferes with the liberty of the subject, while others—notably Mr. 
A. 7. Ball, of Varoville, Mackay—take quite an opposite view of the matter. 
A tax of, say, £20 per head on stallions would restrict the breeding from 
weakly, useless sires ; ; and the owners of first-class stallions would be only too 
pleased to pay the tax, as it would relieve them from having to enter into 
competition with the owners of inferior animals. 
This question was mooted in South Australia some years ago, and I am 
satisfied that it only requires concentrated action on the part of the colonies to 
bring this tax into law. It would, however, I feel satisfied, be useless for 
either of the colonies to introduce such a tax without the support of the others 
in their, too, adopting a similar measure. 
RULE TO FIND WEIGHT OF CATTLE, Erc. 
Take measurement of the girth where it is the smallest, round the body, close 
behind the shoulder; take “the length from the front of the shoulder to the 
insertion of the tail. Multiply the square of the girth in feet and inches with 
the length in feet and inches, and the product by ‘24, *26, +28, or °30, according 
to the fatness of the animal; the result will be the weight of the carcass in 
imperial stones. The wei ht of the carcass is to the live weight of an animal, as 
l to 2, or a little more in cattle; as about 4 to 7 in fat sheep; as 2 to 3 
in fat pigs. These proportions | twill vary according to the condition and breed 
of the animal. 
