THE POLICE HORSES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 240, 5 September 1872, Page 8

THE POLICE HORSES.

(To the Editor.) Sir, — I was much pleased with a Queenstown correspondent's letter which appeared in your journal some time ago, exposing the parsimonious conduct of the Commissioner of Police in his treatment of the members pf th,e Ferce, when they are obliged to travel over the country in the performance of their duty. I wish to supplement that correspondent's remarks by a few words with, regard to the stud of horses the Commissioner employs in the government service. 1 ney ; er pp,^. j$ my experience such/ ft "gptfeTWg of

broken-down, hacks as are congregated in the Police paddock-^-or tospisa|^ it is termed^ — at Tokomairiro; arid these are true specimens of the those in actual use. I don't believe^Mr. Weldon could muster half-a-dozen horses -in the service with the full complement of legs. It is true that many old screws, if well-fed and cared for, can go through a deal of work ; but I have been reliably informed, that however well they may be cared for, they are certainly not well fed. I know the Tokomairiro paddock is as bare as a billiard board, and the Tuapeka one is equally so. Give a horse . a spell in either of them, and they are bound to become weaker instead of stronger. This fact has been sufliciently proved during the past twelve months, when four horses in the Tokomairiro paddock died within a month. It was only a few days ago that one died here, I believe, from .sheer exhaustion. If these things are not known to Mr. Weldon. it is high time they were. Surely, that gentleman cannot be so inhuman as to scrump poor dumb animals of their necessary food. The police have very strict injunctions (and justly too) to prosecute any heartless wretches who treat their horses with cruelty ; and it ill becomes/^* the Commissioner to show such a badexample to the public. I would suggest to the Commissioner, if his desire is to economise as much as possible, that the best thing he could do would be to sell off every screw hehad in the service and appoint some qualified man to replenish the;Btud with one-halfthenumberof good horses, such as would be capable of meeting the ends of justice whenever occasion might demand it. It must be very uncomfortable for a trooper, when he is in hot pursuit of a criminal, to have a terrible consciousness that any moment his own neck may be broken by a stumble from his horse. — I am, &c, X.T.Z.