LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 7, Issue 377, 14 January 1864, Page 3

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

January 4, 1864. Sir,—l see by your last impression, that the sum voted by the Provincial Council for Rifle Prizes is about to be shot for. According to the vote of the Council the competition is to be open to “ Volunteers, Militiamen, and. any other inhabitants of the Province whose names are on the Jury List.” This seems fair enough on paper, and would be so in reality, if the Acts of the Government had not given one party so - great an advantage over the others. The Volunteers have, always,, with a very short interval excepted, not only had regular drills for ball practice, but have also been allowed to purchase ammunition for private practice (the only true way to gain proficiency), and well have they used the liberty, as the annual prize firing shows ; but with others it is quite different. The first and second class Militia have been out for six months’drill, and, whatever those in town may have done, those in the outdistricts have never even fired a blank cartridge ; but besides these there are many who, having been used to a gun [for sport all their lives, would, with a little -practice, hope to compete with the Volunteers. Blit how are they to get practice ? True, any one can obtain a rifle, but as ammunition is not allowed, he is forced to get the best substitute for a ball he can ; instead of the Government regulation powder he must use the foul, feeble, flash (FFF), and for caps the top of a match, as no sporting cap will fit the Enfield nipple ; and I ask, can a competition under these circumstances be such as the Members had in their minds when they voted away our money ? I am, sir, your obdt. servant, An ex-Yager H.A.C. January 11th, 1864. Sir,— Being nearly daily asked to burn or bleed horses’ mouths for “lampers,” will you do me the favour, for the poor tortured horses’ sakes, to publish, in your next issue, the following extract from “ Blaine’sandP. Mayhew’s (M.R.C.V.S.) Veterinary Art,” - I am, sir, your obdt. servant, A Subscriber.

“ Lampers.— The symptoms of this supposed disease are, the horse quids his hay, or refuses his food. It is common in young horses. The groom looks in the mouth of the animal, when perceiving the bars are on a level with the incisor teeth, he pronounces his charge to have the lampers, and takes the poor creature to be burnt within its mouth accordingly. It is true the animal has recovered his appetite by the time the effects of the burn have passed away, but so it would have done had no hot iron been cruelly employed. . The fact is, the young animal is. then cutting a molar tooth, and, a day or two having elapsed, all fever and pain occasioned by the process would have been over. A To man should allow his horse to be burnt for the. lampers ! / it is a torturing, an idle, and a wan ton operation, and tends rather to do harm than good. If an old horse be reported to have the lampers, examine his mouth, and something may be found wrong with his grinders, or, to a certainty, the cause is to be sought in another part pf his body than the roof of his mouth.”