Remount Farms in South Africa.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 270, 16 October 1902, Page 4

Remount Farms in South Africa.

A recent cable message states that the War Office has experimentally established, under the superintendence of British officers, I two farms in the Orange River (Colony for the breeding of suitable remounts. This is a portion of a scheme that has been under consideration for some time. The war proved the difficulty and costliness,’ and to a large extent the inefficiency of the policy of buying horses ail over the world, when there is an unusual demand for the use of mounted troops, and the

question of establishing Imperial remount farms, not only in South Africa, but also in Australia, was mooted long before the close of the campaign. It was believed, however, some few weeks ago that the Transvaal would be selected for the first farms of this nature, as an official statement was made to the effect that the first paddocks to be set up would be at Hustenberg, a townland and farming district midway between Mafeking and Pre»

toria, a beautiful country where everything grows luxuriantly with the least possible attention. The war taught the military authorities that Australians know a few things more than the average army man about horses, and it is not surprising that the small board of officials who have been arranging the details of the matter have been assisted by several Australian officers, of whom the Pali Mall Gazette says Captain H. M. Downes, of West Australia, was concerned in the biggest live stock establishment in Australia, and Lieutenant P. Daley, of New South Wales, is well known as a great judge of horses and cattle, and has always been appointed a judge at the Royal Agricultural Society’s shows at Sydney. Upon Lieutenant Daley devolved the duty of arranging details at Rustenburg. Two thousand mares were to be [sent to the remount farms, mostly

taken from the military remount , depots at various South African camps. These mares were to be the best obtainable, and for the greater part included English, Irish, Australian, and the pick of the hardy Boer animals. They were to be divided in farms of 300 each, but these ten stud farms were to be only the beginning. In all its chief features the' plan adopted for the carrying out of these establishments was that

which has been proved to be satisfactory in Australia. Under good management the experiment should prove of great benefit to the War Office, who will be, to a greater extent than has hitherto been the case, independent of hasty and ill- 1 judged purchases of horses in the event of sudden emergencies in the future.