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l t i ; . , , , HORSE SUPPLY OF EUROPE DIMINISHING. Canadas Opportunity Pointed Oat in Report of M Manager of Breeding Bureau. .Montreal, Que., January lit. At the annual meeting of the Canadian National lSureau of Breeding f held here a few days ago, General Manager John F. c Kyan submitted tlie following report: h "The Canadian National Bureau of Breeding has now completed the lifth year of its incorporation under Dominion government charter. The oldest i bureau half-bred will be live years of age in .May, 1914. This one, and the few others of that age, represent work done by the bureau before it was incorporated. Then; are several hundred half-breds 1 approaching four years and the younger ones number 1 well up in the thousands. So far reports have been received for the 1913 season from keepers of twenty- s live bureau sires. These reports show an average J of forty-three mares per horse, as against thirty- seven in 1912. A total of 1.075 mares are shown -in those twentv-live reports and full returns will 1 piobablv bring the total up to 1.S0O or 2,000 mares. Although this v be regarded as a good showing, il will probablv lie surpassed in 1914, because last vear inaiiv bureau stallions had to be changed around 1 "lo prevent their own get coming back lo them. Weather conditions and other delays caused some of them to arrive late in their new districts, and the 1 last shift was not completed until July. More horses will be secured for 1914, and the aim of the bureau will be lo reach a tidal or 3,KI0 marcs. "During the year bureau stallions have been ex- ceptioiialiy successful at horse shows and fairs and their produce have also won many prizes in the show ring. The heavy horse breeders have eased u. somewhat in their tiiades against the thoroughbred and are now locking horns with their real rivals, the auto truck men. The progress of the automobile and the truck has brought about a new condition iu Kurope and will soon have the same effect iu North Auuiica. ; Onlv three kinds of horses are escaping tlie crisis of the motor in Europe, and these are the war horse, the hunter and the thoroughbred and, although all nations agree that the horse will continue indeti-nitelv to be necessary in war, the gas engine has knocked out the cavalry reserves iu England and the continent. This reserve was made up of thousands of horses engaged in peaceful work, but available f.r war in time of emergency. The peaceful work has been taken over by the motor and the reserve? have been slaughtered for food. "A few years ago London had 79.000 bns horses which could lie impressed in time of trouble. Thi number lias dropped to C.OOO at the present time, anil before this year is over, there will not he enough lert for a single regiment. Germany. Creese. Belgium. Italy. Fngland and France are all seeking war horses and the country which first gets readv to supply this demand will indeed be wise. There is no reason why Canada should not take advantage of the opportunity. The National Bureau is doing all it can, but more sires ami more support is needed. "France alone will need 40.000 remounts between now ami the close of 1917. Ireland, where a large number of good remounts are produced in the work of getting hunters, has f;een invaded by buyers from all over Kurope. and these buyers ale outbidding the British war ollice. The British board of agriculture has been paying .OO.OiiO per year lo owners of thoroughbred sires since 1911, in order to have such sires crossed with farm mares to get remounts. The returns for 1912 show that 1.500 colts were produced. In other words, the British government nays iu subsidies twenty times as much as the Canadian government puts up for about the same number of foals. The reiMirt issued last August by the British Board of Agriculture shows the stand taken iu regard to the thoroughbred cross by that most important bodv. In reply to a suggestion regarding the reducing of tlie grant, the Advisory Council on Horse Breeding says: "So far from being able to reduce the expenditure, the experience of the committee leads them to think that the grant could use-fullv be increased, and they are unanimous in thinking that it would be most unwise to divert money from lighthorse breeding to the heavy horse industry. . ... "Major-General Broadhurst at this meeting stated that the government aid was given to thoroughbred sires "to prevent the remount horse from becoming an extinct animal. The thoroughbred sire ami no other breed of sire is considered by this board as a remount producer. An appeal from the hackney men brought from the standing committee this opinion: That the breeding of hackneys could no longer be regarded as a national industry. "Your directors have made exhaustive inquiries in England and all over the continent and have learned bevoml any doubt that the present conditions offer a grand chance to Canada and to Canadian farmers and breeders. Three things are necessary. More sires, more financial aid and a system of getting the produce to the liest market. The correctness of the bureau plan has lieen proven, not only in Canada, but all over Kurope. Every progressive nation realizes that the thoroughbred is the proper remount sire, and England, France, Germany. Aus-tria-IIungarv, Bussia and Italy also recognize a great truth whii-h is this, that while a war department can state the kind of honio it wants, it takes a breeding society to produce that kind. War is one thing and horse Impeding is quite another business. An army man as a breeder is about as valuable as a student of heredity in charge of a division of the field." The appointment of General Sir Ian Hamilton as an honorary member of the board of governors was approved bv the shareholders. The old board was re-elected without change and the same ollicials remain in charge of the bureau affairs. Andrew Shearer called attention to the work Vicing done bv the National Association of Allied Horse Interests of the United States. This is an association formed to protect the horse in sport and in- dustrv, and it takes in all classes of men Interested in horses from the manufacturers of horse shoe nails up to the president of the New York Jockey 1 Club. Friends of the thoroughbred, Clydesdale. Percheron, Morgan, trotter, hackney, polo iony and : grade horses are being banded together for the pur-; pose of protecting the horse. : The following are the otlicers of the hureau: Chairman of the Board of Governors Maj. G. . Stephenson. I General Manager John F. Kyan. ; Provincial secretaries ; Quebec Allen Boswell. Quebec. Manitoba George Carruthers, Winnipeg. British Columbia Maj. S. Harris, Vancouver. - - Ontario IT. .T. P. flood, Toronto. " , Alberta Osborne Brown. Saskatchewan II. C. "L-awson. Regina. 5 New Brunswick W. "W. Hubbard, Fredencton. ; Nova Scotia F. J. Robinson, Halifax. -
