BLOOD-STOCK FALLS AWAY IN AUSTRALIA

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 419, 30 July 1928, Page 16

BLOOD-STOCK FALLS AWAY IN AUSTRALIA

TALK ON THOROUGHBREDS

BRISBANE SPORTSMAN’S VIEW

“A rest from cable, telegraph and other worries” is the reason Mr. P. J. O'Shea, solicitor, exlegislatior, business man and sports man, of Brisbane, Queensland, is outward bound on the Aorangi for Canada and the States.

The owner of the record-breaking Canning Queen, vf ich a few weeks ago won the Brisbane Cup in 3.225, knocking a quarter of a second off the Australian record and beating the times of Windbag and Kennaquahair, Mr. O’Shea is still registering pride in the achievement. He is not going to America for horses, because he says he is old-fash-ioned enough to think that English blood is k the best. There is no doubt in Mr. O’Shea’s mind that racing stock deteriorates in Australia. “Very few of the Austra-lian-bred sires are fashionable,” he said. “From the racing point of view they seem to fail. They may have stamina and be all right for utility purposes, but in the actual racing they fail. Tlte imported stock is always more successful. It may be 'in the fodder or it may be in the climate, but there is certainly something which affects them. “However, there is one certain thing,” said Mr. O’Shea, “the men in Australia don’t deteriorate.” THREE YEARS’ DROUGHT Mr. O’Shea is a member of one of the oldest legal firms in Queensland and for eight years he was a member of the late Legislative Council. “I was in at the death,” he said, “and for what I did while a member I am not sorry, although friends thought I was silly to devote so much time to it.” The drought in Queensland had had a more or less depressing effect on all trade. Although the coaVtal area had had a good season, the central west had not yet recovered. Some parts of it had had a three years’ drought, and some of the sturdy graziers had suffered severely. Mr. O’Shea is a director of many companies, including the Queensland Breweries, Moreton Central Sugar Mill Company. Ltd., John Hicks and Company, Ltd.