§ MR. O'MALLEY (Galway, Connemara)To ask the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) if the Department is still in possession of the hackney stallions handed over to it by the Congested Districts Board some years ago; if so, whether he will state if these horses are now used for breeding purposes in Ireland; and, if they are, whether the action of the Department in this respect has the approval of the Council of Agriculture and of the committee appointed by the Department to advise in matters connected with horse breeding in Ireland.
(Answered by Mr, T. W. Russell.) Twelve hackney stallions were transferred to the Department by the Congested Districts Board at the close of 1903. Seven of these animals were sold early in 1904 in England and one has since died, leaving four still retained. Two of these have been located by the Department in remote parts of county Donegal and two in county Galway. It is intended, as opportunity arises through the purchase of sires of a more suitable type, to dispose of the hackney stallions in question. On the recommendation of the departmental advisory committee on horse-breeding stallions of the hackney breed have always been declared by the Department to be ineligible for registration under the general horse-breeding scheme, and accordingly none of the four hackney stallions at present in their possession are used by the Department in connection with that scheme. The action of the Department in excluding hackneys from the operations of the horse-breeding scheme formed the subject of discussion at the meeting of the Council of Agriculture held on 13th February, 1902, when a resolution approving of the policy of the Department in this respect was adopted by a large majority.