49
PART I.—IMPERIAL REPORT.
B.—REVENUE SECTION.
III.—HORSE FAIRS AND SHOWS.
Review on Horse
Fairs and Shows
of 1897-98.
225. Following the custom which has been adopted for the past few years,
the various Horse Fairs and Shows which were held during 1897-98 will be
reviewed alphabetically Province by Province.
226. The year under report I am happy to state was not so disastrous to our
Horse Shows as was 1896-97, still a certain number had to be abolished owing to
plague regulations and other causes. These were:—
Ulwar.
Jeypore.
Pokhur.
Ahmednagar.
NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES.
Aligarh Horse
Show.
227. This Show was not as successful as was anticipated; this is no doubt,
partly due to the fact that it was not held last year owing to scarcity, and it is
always found that any such break tends to reduce interest on the part of the zemin-
dars, and also prevents dealers attending.
228. The great reason, however, for the small attendance was the very heavy
rainfall. The Show was advertised to be held from 7th to 12th February 1898,
but heavy rain fell on 9th, 10th, and 11th—the days on which the judging should
have taken place; owing to this, the time had to be extended to the 15th when
the prizes were awarded. During this time, many of the owners had removed their
stock.
229. On this occasion only 208 animals competed for prizes against 366 in
1896. The Judging Committee reports them to have been of a good useful stamp
and more particularly the prize-winners, which showed much breeding.
230. Class IV—Remounts—were considered very good. Of these, 7 head
of young stock were purchased by the Army Remount Department, 10 by the 1st
Bengal Lancers at an average of Rs. 241, and 13 were also bought for Imperial
Service Cavalry. The Remount Agent in his remarks on the young stock
purchased, states:—
There was a large number to select from, and taken as an average, they showed generally a lot of quality.
Being restricted in the numbers to be bought alone prevented me from making more purchases.
This is to be regretted as at some Shows the full numbers could not be
obtained.
Batesar Horse
Fair.
231. This Fair was held from 6th to 15th November 1897 and cannot be
said to have been a success. This is to be regretted as it is the one big horse
market of the North-Western Provinces.
232. The figures given show an enormous falling off, viz:—
Total horse stock 4,670 against 11,246 last year.
„ mule stock 450 „
533
„
Two causes led to this small attendance:—
(a)—Several dealers were under the impression that owing to precautions taken
against the spread of Bubonic Plague, this Fair would, as in the case of
Pokhur and Ulwar, be abolished; they therefore did not care to incur the
expense of railing their horses down.
(b)—Owing to the prevalence of malarial fever of a very virulent type in the
surrounding districts, several of the Zemindars could not come to the Fair.
233. Although the numbers attending were scarcely more than a third of the
number that was present last year, still 124 remounts were obtained, being only
23 under the number purchased in 1896-97. This is all the more satisfactory as
they were generally reported to be up to the usual standard, whereas it was only
natural to be supposed that with such diminished numbers, Remount Officers
would have been compelled to lower their standard.
234. Captain Hobbs, 14th Bengal Lancers, purchased 16, and states:—
Remounts up to the class of former years. A good many geldings obtainable.