Telegram-herald., 1891-12-17
WHERE HORSES ARE CHEAP.
Q~ssuslasa Farmers Pay fer Having Them
Kuiee.


Klise.
No one can buy horse in this city,
says the Washington Star, which Is 1T
fos any purpose. for less than one hun
Gred dollars. A broken-down car horse
Is worth nearly this amount. A horse
for grocer's cart in New York, Chi
cago. or San Francisco viii cost from
one hundred aud fifty 10 two hundred
dollars In Queensland. Australia how
ever, the horse market is away down.
A sound. well broken animal can be
bought for Ave dollars. Farmers in the
interior cannot afford 10 send horses TO
Brisbane for sale, because ordinary
stock viii not bring more than one dol
lar and seventy five cents a head. They
shoot them insteadl And. what Is still
more startling. they pay at the rate Of
sixty-two cents head for having them
shot.
All Of these statements are strictly
correct The colony Of Queensland Is
now seriously discussing the advisabili-
ty Of passing a law imposing tax on
ali stations and authorizing the ap-
pointmert Of inspectors TO see that al
unlicensed animals are killed. All over
Queensland they are going 70 keep
down horses as we keep down
the superabundance Of dogs in the city
of Washington.
Horse breeding in Australia was for
many years . remunerative business.
A great demand was created by the
taking up and occupying Of new coun-
try, from the opening mp of the new
gold fields and for the prosecution Of
the sugar industry.
Everyone who had land began breed
ing horses Now tho demand has
ceased, the sugar industry is declining,
the mining is stationary and the owners
of what was formerly new country are
sellers instead Of buyers The conse-
quence is that the whole country is
overrun with unsalable horses. They
cannot be eaten like sheep and cattle,
and . boiling-down factory for the
manufacture of glue and other products
failed after CONSUMING fifty thousand
animals.
Now. In . semtwild state, they over
run tue entire interior of the colony.
The best Of them bring at auction not
more than thirteen dollars or fourteen
dollars q dozen Property holders in
New South Wales have relieved them
selves Of the burden on their grazing
lands by shooting them. On the Bar
won river. within two years. between
sixty thousand and seventy thousand
head were destroyed, at cost TO their
nominal owners of twenty-five shillings
six pence . head Queensland has now
the same trouble to fight. A law en-
titled 1.-The Marsupials Destruction
Act" is now ia force, directed against
the kangaroos, to check the increase Of
these noxious animals. But kangaroo's
skin is worth three dollars and seventy
Eve cents In the open market at Dris-
baue.
How much more need IL therss oep,
for . destruction act when hr4E arc
larger animals, eat more, are moro
numerous than kangaroos and sre
nearly worthless. This is the question
which b agitating the property holders
of ouecnsland At the present time. as Is
learned from the recent bulletins Of
the department of agriculture Of that
colony: VIII 1t pay Australians to ship
these horses TO the United States7 The
passage 20 San Francisco will talxe
twenty daya The Pacific ocean at
certain times Ia almost smooth. One Of
.he Australian steamships will probably