HORSES IN FRANCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 566, 19 January 1929, Page 25

HORSES IN FRANCE

NUMBERS INCREASING In the central parts of Paris, where motor-cycles become more numerous year by year, it often takes longer to go from the Opera to the Madeleine in a taxicab than on foot. One might almost think that horses had practically disappeared in* France. About the only ones?to be seen in Paris are the few decrepit-looking animals which draw old-fashioned victorias to the tune of a taximeter. Nevertheless, there were more horses in the country in the year 1927 than there were in 1900, when, motorcars were novel and scarce, states the Paris corespondent of the “New York Times.” Figures recently published by the “Bulletin des Halles,” a market journal, show that the horse census last year totalled 2,927,230, while in 1900 the number was 2,903,067. In 1918, on account of the war, the horse population fell to 2,232,000. The French Army still buys many horses, and large numbers are exported, notably to Canada and the Argentine. The peasants generally use horses for farm work, tractors being relatively scarce.