Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-01-26
HORSES ron 4 ooLLAa each.
nnusenae Droves of Horses IN Qeeensiane
Are = Serious Nulsance.


nnusense proves sf Horses IN Queensland
Are = Serious Nuisance.
No one can buy a horse about Wash
ington which is ft for any purpose for
Iess than 800. A broken down car
horse is worth nearly this amount. a
horse for a grocer's cart in New YORK,
Chicago or San Francisco will cost
from $50 to 600. In Queensland,
Australia, however. the horse market
IL away down. A sound, well broken
animal can be bought for five dollars.
Farmers in the interior cannot aliord
to send horses to Brisbane for sale be-
cause ordinary stock will not bring
more than s1.75 cents per head They
shoot them insteadl And. what Is stll
more startling, they pay at the rate oi
sixty-two cents per head for having
them shotl
All Of these statements are strictly
correct. The colony Of Queensland Is
now seriously discussing the adyisabn
ity of passing a law imposing tax on
all stations and authorizing the ap-
pointment of inspectors to see that all
unlicensed animals are killed. All over
Queensland they are going TO keep
down horses as we keep down the su-
perabundance of dogs in the city OF
Washington. The same state of affairs
holds In some of the other Australian
colonies
Horse breeding in Australia was for
many years a remuneratiye business
A great demand was created by the
taking up and occupying of new coun-
try, from the opening up Of new gold
fields and for the prosecution Of the
sugar industry. Every one who had
land began breeding horses. Now the
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 buy
ers. The consequence is that the whole
country Is overrun with unstable
horses. They cannot be eaten like
sheep and cattle, and a boiling down
factory for the manufacture of glue
and other products failed after con-
su1ning so, 600 animals
Now, in a semiwild state they over
run the entire interior of the colony
The best of them bring at auction not
more than thirteen dollars or fourteen
dollars a 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
GO, 600 and 20, 600 head were destroyed
at a cost to their nominal owners Of
25.6 pence per head Queensland has
now the same trouble to fight. A law
entitled ''The Marsupials Destruction
Act" Is now in force, directed against
the kangaroos. TO check the increase of
those noxious animals But kangaroo
skin is worth ss3.75 In the open market
at Brisbane. How much more need is
there then of horse destruction act
when horses are larger animals, eat
more, are more numerous than kanga-
roos and are nearly worthless.
This is the question which is agitat-
ing the property holders of Queensland
at the present time. Will it pay Aus
tralians to ship these horses to the
United States2 The passage to San
Francisco will take twenty days The
Pacific ocean at certain times is always
smooth. One OF the Australian steam
ships will probably carry from 700 to
1000 horses at trip. The import
duty on horses and mules at present is
thirty dollars per head. 1t resolves
itself into question of water car
riage Washington Star.