THE HORSE TRADE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1330, 6 January 1912, Page 8

THE HORSE TRADE.

, . LACK OF SPACE IN Snil'S, / Commenting on tlio lack of space ill ship'sVmangers (luring the course of an interview- with a representative of (lie "Otago Witness," Mr. J. I'. Mlvonzie, v.-ho has just returned from n visit to •the Old Country, said that tlio spate provided for horses 011 tlio boats running to -Australia was altogether too small. On landing on the, other side, he .said, the horses were', invariably., suffering from '.'strangles or intluenzii, which complaints we're caught 011 the .boat, Tho animals were' so crowded together that they' had ■to , breaths foul air most of the time, and they wero thus landed in Australia iii a bad .state of health, and frequently sliortly after arrival .some of thein dio and give New Zealand-bred animals a bad name, in so far as constitution is concerned. Tho horses aro placed sidc-by-sido, in tho stalls with only a bar between them. This drawback, said -Mr. M'Kenzie, was a vei-y serious one. for New Zealand,'.because at the present 1 time the had been raised in Australia as to whether the importation of our horses should not bo stopped altogether. ..If something was not done we would lose our. trade in this direction. Australians Who were buying our horses "were losing 'so many that they were making a big outcry over the matter. The lack of space for horses on the intercolonial boats Was at present doing harm to breeders, •and it would ultimately result in loss to tho shipowners, if these importations were stopped.