ARMY REMOUNTS—HORSE-BREEDING IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. (Hansard, 13 March 1902)

* THE EARL OF DUNRAVEN
My Lords, I rise to call attention to the condition of the industry of horse-breeding in the United Kingdom. This subject 1228 has been so prominently brought to the notice of the country in connection with the question of remounts, that it is mainly, though not solely, on that ground that I wish to call the attention of the House to it, and to ask your Lordships to agree to the Resolution that stands in my name. I shall not, I think, be contradicted if I lay it down as a fact that the home-bred animal is, for military purposes, superior to any other. Among the many experiences, regrettable and other, of the present war is the very valuable knowledge acquired by actual experiment of the relative value of various breeds of horses. Basuto ponies, horses from Cape Colony, from Australia, New Zealand, America, Canada, Argentina, Hungary, India, and England have all been used in competition together, and, taking them all round, the English horse has proved itself to be the best. But I need not labour this point. The Report of the Assistant Inspector of Remounts, Colonel Birkbeck, is very instructive and conclusive. It may be summed up in one sentence, which I quote— Nothing has really come up to the English horse for cavalry and draught. Notwithstanding change of diet and climate, he has worked and stood hardship better than any other. Of the quality of British horses there is no doubt; unfortunately for us, in quantity they were deficient. The registration system worked well, and we were enabled to send out from home a very considerable number of horses, not more, however, than about 20 per cent. of the total number of horses shipped to South Africa. The bad quality of a great number of the foreign horses is proved in the reports of the Assistant Inspector of Remounts, and is, in fact, generally admitted; and it is deeply to be regretted that we were unable to supply a larger number of superior animals from home.
If one fact has been demonstrated more clearly than any other during the progress of this war, it is the value of mobility. Now, mobility is mainly a question of horseflesh, and I do not think any military authority in this House will deny that if we had been enabled to supply a far larger number of suitable horses from this country, our 1229 military operations in the field would have been greatly facilitated. I take it, therefore, as proved that in the United Kingdom we have the best source of supply in the world, but that the supply is inadequate for our needs. And why is it inadequate? The United Kingdom is certainly the best horse-producing country in the world. Of that there can be no question. Why is it that our supply of suitable horses is not larger? The answer is very simple. The very excellence of our horses has proved our own undoing. For many years past foreign Governments have expended large sums of money and made every effort to possess themselves of our best sires and mares; and have succeeded, with the natural and inevitable result. The Royal Commission on Horse Breeding puts the matter very clearly. In their first Report in 1883 they say— Private enterprise was formerly sufficient to produce and keep a breed of horses in this country that was unrivalled in the world, and that pre-eminence was successfully maintained until the Governments of foreign countries became alive to the importance of acquiring an equal advantage for themselves. The foreign haras which were established for this purpose in various countries on the Continent created a most serious drain upon our resources in this country. There is no record, unfortunately, contained in any of the official statistics of the number of stallions which have been annually exported from the country, but it is a matter of common notoriety that year after year the United Kingdom has been swept by the agents of foreign Governments for stallions and mares best suited for their purposes. And they have been bought with public money, and taken from the country, frequently at prices with which it was impossible for private enterprise successfully to compete. The consequence of this has been, that, with the exception of the highest class of stallions and mares for the breeding of race horses, this country has been left for the most part with the inferior and even unsound animals which the foreign agent has rejected, and the result has been a gradual but marked deterioration in the general breed for which England was at one time famous. The Viceregal Commission on Horse Breeding in Ireland speak in their Report to the following effect— Owing to the eagerness of foreign buyers to purchase good mares, and other causes, such as the serious depression in agriculture, the country has been practically drained of mares suitable to breed hunters, high-class harness horses, and cavalry remounts. Over large districts farmers cannot afford to pay a fee of more than a few shillings for the service of a stallion, and the number of private persons sufficiently well off to provide a valuable stallion at an unremunerative fee, for the public 1230 benefit, is exceedingly small. These causes, namely, the constant exportation of good mares, and the inferiority of the country stallions, must, unless checked, tend to the gradual deterioration in the produce. Those Reports place the condition of the industry and the causes of its decline clearly before us. Foreign Governments spend very large sums of money. They offer prices for sound mares and suitable sires which the farmers, often impoverished, cannot resist. They have buyers all over the country, with the inevitable consequence that, in spite of private effort, and the collective efforts of societies and associations, a great national industry is going gradually to decay. From the military point of view, we have enabled foreign Governments to mount their cavalry and horse their artillery with the best material, and have deprived ourselves of the opportunity of doing the same thing. What our actual requirements are, is not easy to estimate. In normal times of peace they have amounted to about 2,500 or 3,000 horses annually, but I think I should not be gainsaid in stating that that amount was never really sufficient to thoroughly horse our Artillery or mount our Cavalry. A Cavalry Regiment, to be considered effective, ought to have its full complement of trained horses, and some reserved trained horses to cover the waste of a voyage and war. We shall in any case require a good many more remounts in the future. Our Field Artillery and Horse Artillery are to be increased; we have, or are to have, more Cavalry; and a comparatively new branch of the Service, the Mounted Infantry, has come into favour. Should I be over-estimating our peace requirement at 7,000 or 8,000 horses a year? If that is near the mark, we shall find some difficulty in satisfying it. It is still more difficult to say what our requirements during war would be. It would, of course, be absurd to keep a reserve of horses based upon the experience of this war, for this war is exceptional in a great many ways, which I need not now specify. But it must be borne in mind that in future wars we may be engaged in, it is highly improbable that we shall again have the whole world to draw upon for horses and other transport animals.
If the mounted branches of the service are really to be efficient, it cannot be denied that a large reserve of horses 1231 suitable for Cavalry remounts and for Field and Horse Artillery are necessary. This, then, is the state of the case—an increased and increasing demand, a decreased and decreasing supply. Differences of opinion may exist as to the legitimate functions of the State towards a decaying industry as such, but surely no difference of opinion can exist as to the duty of the State in the case of a sick and languishing industry, upon the health of which the efficiency of the military forces of the Crown depends. What steps ought the State to take? Speaking broadly, I am not in favour of following the continental system and of instituting horse breeding establishments on a large scale. That would be very expensive and quite unnecessary, and, in fact, would be attacking the evil from the wrong direction. Being so admirably designed by nature as a horse-producing country, all that the State can be asked to do is to give adequate encouragement to the individual breeder to produce the description of animal that the State requires. I do not mean, of course, to suggest that thousands of horses should be kept unemployed ready for the possible eventuality of war; that would be absurd. It is not necessary to do anything of the kind. It is not necessary, either, to attempt to produce a breed of horses in any sense unnatural to the country. All that is required is to perpetuate, to prevent from falling into decay, a breed of horses which is natural to us, indigenous to the soil. The United Kingdom naturally produces horses admirably suited for draught. That is the class of animal from which the Artillery horse is drawn. It naturally produces the best hunters and high-class carriage horses of the world. It is the misfits of these classes that make the best Cavalry remounts—the horses bred for hunters, but not quite good enough. These animals have breeding, bone, courage, and endurance, and make the ideal remount. That class of animal can be produced naturally in large quantities in this country, and would be produced if sufficient steps were taken to counteract the action of foreign countries. It is in that direction that our efforts should be concentrated.
It has been suggested that the assistance of the Colonies may be called in, and to that there cannot be the slightest objection. I should be the last man in 1232 the world to object to anything which tends to increase the community of interest between the mother country and her children. But we must look at the matter from a common-sense point of view. It would never pay the Colonies to breed to supply us in peace time, and it would never pay us in peace time to pay the freight for the horses; and in time of great demand in war, it is doubtful whether the capacity of the Colonies is sufficient to supply us with suitable horses in any very large number. Whatever may be done in that direction, it is certain that we must rely largely on home production; and the question is, how is the home industry and the home production to be rescued from decay and developed? We have the Reports of various Commissions, and the action of various Societies and Associations, to guide us. The Royal Commission was founded in 1887. Its functions were very limited; it was to report how the amounts previously given in Queen's Plates could best be expended in horse-breeding, the amount being only £5,100. They reported in favour of giving premiums to thorough-bred sires suitable for getting half-bred stock. They acted on that Report, and have continued to expend the small amount of money at their disposal in the same way ever since, and with very considerable advantage. But they have earnestly impressed upon us the necessity of offering premiums for mares so as to give a distinct inducement to owners to keep their best young mares in the country. In 1890 they made a point of that, and in their Report regretted— That the sum now voted by Parliament is totally inadequate to enable us to enlarge the field of usefulness of the Commission. The question of improving the quality of mares in this country is (they added) one of great importance, and continues to have the careful consideration of the Commissioners. It is satisfactory to know that the question of improving the quality of mares occupied the careful consideration of the Commissioners, but what is the use of consideration without money? And what can the Commissioners be expected to do with such a paltry sum as £5,000 a year at their disposal? The Hunters Improvement Society has done most excellent work. Their aim has been to establish a breed of hunters, true to type, and they 1233 have been fairly successful. They have established a Hunters Stud Book, containing a register of mares suitable for breeding hunters, and of sires, particularly half-bred sires, with three strains of thorough-bred blood. The Society has done most excellent work, and should not in any way be interfered with, but the problem they have to face is infinitely too large for the means of any private society, and the same may be said of other associations connected with, horse breeding.
In Ireland the Royal Dublin Society long ago recognised the necessity of establishing a Stallion Register, and subsidising mares, and has to the best of its ability worked on those lines, with great benefit to breeders in Ireland. In 1897, the Viceregal Commission, of which I had the honour to be chairman, took a great deal of evidence on these points. The principal recommendations of that Commission were— That a system of registration of stallions, similar to that now in operation in the Royal Dublin Society's scheme, should be established of a very extended form; that money should be spent in distributing stallions where wanted throughout the country, and giving premiums to private owners of suitable sires; that substantial premiums should be given to owners of brood mares, especially those between the ages of three and six; that additional prizes should be given in the early spring to yearlings. All these recommendations have been more or less acted upon by the Irish Agricultural Department. A register of stallions, thorough-breds, Clydesdale, and shire, has been established, and a certain sum of money is given yearly to each County Council to be expended by its Agricultural Committee, the sum being dependent upon the amount raised locally. In the county with which I am best acquainted, County Limerick, we receive this year from the Agricultural Department £600 and the Council raises £600. Of this money £400 is devoted to horses, £240 goes to premiums for mares, and £160 to prizes for young stock at local shows. The Royal Dublin Society spends its funds on premiums to stallions. This arrangement appears to be working very well.
All this experience points in one and the same direction, the necessity of either licensing or registering stallions, and of giving sufficient inducement to farmers to breed from good mares by offering 1234 premiums for mares and for young stock. All these societies have, in my opinion, been working on the right lines, but the funds at their disposal are not by any means sufficient for the purpose. Money is wanted, and it is not at all likely that, in a matter so important, the country will grudge it. The nation is waking up to the danger of its position. Last December the Devon County Council passed the following resolution— That in view of the national importance of an adequate supply of sound horses, this Council is of opinion that legislation should be introduced empowering County Councils to prohibit the use, for hire within their districts, of stallions suffering from hereditary disease. This resolution has been adopted by the County Councils of the West Riding of Yorkshire and of Cornwall. It has been referred to Committees of other Councils and has been rejected by, I think, only two County Councils; and it has been endorsed by the Council of the Hunters Improvement Society and by the Royal Agricultural Society. The money that the State expends upon this most important national industry is utterly insignificant as compared with what other nations find it advisable to spend. France spends £86,000, exclusive of the cost of keeping up the breeding establishments, Prussia £192,000, and Austro-Hungary £303,000, while we are content with £5,100 in England, and about £8,000 in Ireland. As to what sum ought to be expended, I cannot, of course, express an opinion; nor do I wish to express any opinion as to the details of expenditure. The general lines upon which I think money should be expended I have mentioned in my Resolution. They are the lines which have been proved to work well. Stallions should either be licensed or registered. In all foreign countries it is a punishable offence to offer to the public an unlicensed sire. That might possibly be considered too stringent an operation in this country, but powers in that direction might possibly be given to local bodies. At any rate, sires should be registered, and registered sires should be provided in sufficient numbers, so that breeders could have access to them. A registered sire fifty miles away is of very little use to small farmers, who should at any rate have the choice of sending their mares to a sound sire. What is certainly equally important, a sufficient inducement should be offered to them to breed from 1235 good mares instead of selling them to the foreign buyer and breeding from mares not good enough for the foreigner to take. Possibly, also, something might be done, at an infinitesimal expense, by presenting to suitable breeders and farmers—under, of course, proper conditions—Artillery or Cavalry mares past their work, but suitable to breed from. As to details, I offer no opinion. All that I want is that the whole subject should be submitted to experts. It would be impossible to put together a body more capable of considering and reporting on this most important matter than the Royal Commission on horse breeding. If they were enabled to draw up a scheme of what they consider necessary, and an estimate of the annual sum required to carry out that scheme, I feel sure the country would have every confidence in their decision, and I should be well content to leave this most important national question in their hands.

* THE EARL OF LONSDALE
My Lords, I was under the impression that the Royal Commission did put forward certain suggestions and proposals, I think in 1888 or 1890, and in this report they asked the Government to deal with their suggestions, but nothing has been done on the lines of their recommendations. Now that it is becoming evident that the supply of horses is diminishing, I sincerely hope the Government will take some steps to rectify matters. It would be absurd to shut our eyes to the fact that foreign nations have deprived us of some of the finest stock that could be purchased in this country. The stallions are bought 1236 and taken away for the American and foreign markets, and unless the animals have value enough for racing purposes, no one is willing to pay the necessary sum to retain in this country the stallions invaluable for breeding half-bred stock, but not of necessity stallions that are maintained for racing purposes as racing stallions. Very considerable benefit would be derived if the Government could see their way to purchasing so many of the very best stallions per year that would in the ordinary course be bought by foreigners, and, perhaps by means of a Stallion Department, a judicious distribution of these stallions could be made all over the United Kingdom, by which a very considerable advantage could be derived by England and other parts of His Majesty's home dominions.

§ LORD RIBBLESDALE
As a member of the Royal Commission, but speaking only in my individual capacity, I should like to say a few words on this subject. The real key of the situation is in the pocket of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and, from our experience of Chancellors of the Exchequer, it seems likely to stay there. If the Government could see their way to buy horses a little younger for the public service and give a rather better price, I am certain that they would have more horses bred. The Royal Commission have told you exactly the position of horse politics in this country, and that, with the money at our disposal, we cannot really do all we would like to do. We have pointed out that we have no possible means of securing the best mares or of competing with the foreigners who are taking the best stock out of the country. But not the slightest notice has been taken, and, speaking for myself, I see no advantage in inviting the Royal Commission to merely repeat what they have told the Government every year since their appointment in 1888, unless, before they are asked to give their opinion on certain points, it is distinctly understood that a certain sum of money will be placed at their disposal to carry out their recommendations.

§ THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (The Duke of DEVONSHIRE)
My Lords, I regret that I had not observed 1237 this Motion on the Paper, but if I had, I do not know that it would have occurred to me that I should be expected to take any part in the discussion. It appears, however, so far as I am able to ascertain, that there is no member of His Majesty's Government who considers that it lies with his Department to reply to the observations which have been made on the subject. I can quite understand that the noble Duke the Master of the House, who would have been most competent to address your Lordships on the subject, should be unwilling to do so, because, as President of the Commission, it might be supposed that he was committing that body further than he was justified in doing without directly consulting them on the subject. For the reasons I have stated, I am afraid I can say very little except to recognise the importance of the subject. A good deal has been said about the actual deterioration of the breed of horses in consequence of the drain to which we have been for many years subjected by the purchase by foreign Governments of many of our best mares. I cannot help thinking that if this drain is, as has been alleged, an evil, and has tended actually to the deterioration of the breed, it is an evil which must have a tendency to work its own cure, because the demand which is alleged to have taken place on the part of foreign Governments must tend to establish a market for these animals, and make it better worth the while of farmers and breeders to breed the animals which foreign Governments require. I can well understand that it is very possible that foreign Governments may think it worth while to give a price for horses which our own Government has not yet seen its way to do, and that is a matter well worth the consideration of the Departments concerned. Reference has been made to the want of funds. I should think it would probably be found that the most effectual means of improving the supply of horses would be if the Secretary of State for War, with the assent of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, could see his way to increase the price which is given for remounts. That, I should think, would probably be a more effectual way than could be arrived at by any system of giving premiums for stallions or mares. I will take the 1238 opportunity of consulting those members of the Government who are chiefly interested—the Secretary of State for War and the Chancellor of the Exchequer—and also of taking the opinion of my noble friend who is at the head of the Commission as to whether any specific reference could usefully be made to that Commission. It has been admitted that if there is any recommendation to be made, there is no body which is likely to be able to give more valuable assistance than that Commission as it is at present constituted. The Commission has been constituted for the special purpose of distributing a certain small fund, which, as has been said, is totally inadequate to give much result. The Government will, however, consider whether the question brought forward by my noble friend could, with any advantage, be remitted to the Commission, and whether it should be suggested to them that they should make any definite recommendation on the subject.

* THE EARL OF DUNRAVEN
I presume that after the noble Duke has consulted his colleagues on the subject, we shall be informed of the decision arrived at. I can only express my regret that the noble Duke did not observe this Motion on the Paper, but I am not responsible for that. I regret still more that no Department of His Majesty's Government appear to think it worth their while to take any cognisance of so important a national matter as horse-breeding. My noble friend Lord Ribblesdale said it would be very little use to ask the Royal Commission to formulate any scheme unless a definite sum of money was decided upon to be spent. I do not agree with him. Up to the present, the Royal Commission have never made any definite proposition. They have said that premiums ought to be given to mares, and so on, and have asked for more money; but they have never laid down a definite scheme or plan showing what steps should be taken for the benefit of this important industry, and what expenditure would be required. That is what I should like to see done. I do not think the country would grudge the expenditure of a few thousands a year in this direction, but they would like to know what the body of experts who constitute the Royal Commission 1239 Consider the best way in which the money should he spent. I beg to withdraw my Motion.

§ LORD RIBBLESDALE
I gather from the speech of the noble Duke that the Government would be inclined to adopt the recommendation of the Committee, even though it might involve expenditure. If effect would be given to any recommendation we might make, I think it would be worth while that we should be called together.