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i : 1 1 1 I : j ! j . i , i OBSTACLES TO IMPORTING DIFFICULTIES AMERICAN BUYERS MUST SURMOUNT TO BUY ENGLISH BROODMARES. Noted English Commission Agent Details Regulations Affecting Transfer of Ownership Unsuspected by Would-Be Purchasers. We are n»w at a eritcal stage in the evolution of the British thoroughbred, for it is almost certain that our home stock will be decimated, or more than decimated, by American and Colonial buyers if no further step is taken, and that quickly. io reasftnre breeders and owners as to the continuance of racing. The side obstacle that stands in the way of a wholesale sweep of our liest broodmare:-, into American studs is the intricate mass of permits and certificates which have to be obtained before the exportation can take place. One such paper, for example, is to the effect that the animal for six months before its intended departure has been at a place where there has been no infectious ailment. This has to be sworn to before a magistrate, and. in effect, it renders unsalable for exportation to America anv mare which has l-eon excised to dang r of pneumonia or other infection during the pas: summer — unless, indeed, sue is kept for the requisite period of quarantine bi England. Such precautions are. to my mind, far too stringent; and the other necessary certificate as to the animals well-being for six weeks before shipment might rea-onably suflice: but even that is not always easy to obtain, as, for instance, wln-n mares are bought bv auction and ihe vendors are. perhaps, in Ireland." perhaps at the front and quite inaccessible. Even when they can be found they are apt to resent being called uisin to go through the necessary formality before a magistrate. I had experience of a case the other day. when a breeder who had sold a year-liog at the Xewmarket sales to an American buyer, refused pointbh-nk to execute the essential tiocu nient, and indignantly protested that he had never been asked to do such a thing l»eforo. He most cei tainly would not do it now nor allow anv servant of his to do it for him. It will he seen, "therefore that the export of bloodstock to America is not so simple as the casual American purchaser may imagine, and though it may benefit me in a commercial sense to expedite sales to America. I am none the .ess glad that so many difficulties should he in-ter-Tosed and the imminent danger of a panic cb-ar-ont of our broodmares may be to a certain extent averted. There has been a lot of pneumonia about this year and, short of committing |»erjurv. i owner can sell for exportation to America a mare that has been expo.-ed to infection during the past six months. This seems to limit the sale area considerably, though when the December sales come on it may be that the six months clean bill of health can lie shown where it could not lie now. Let no one think that I am making any invidious distinctions in this matter, for personally I think the regulation ridiculous, and I sincerely sviiqiathize with any stud master who has had the pneumonia fiend to battle with. It would, of course, tie wrong to export a mare frnii the area of such infection while the trouble is still on. but when it has passed away there is no sort of reason to wait for six months iu a quarantine stage. The disease may. and probably will, recur the following year if there has not been adequate disinfection and this happens regularly in the Argentine studs and stables — or did so "until quite recently — but when the attack of one year is spent and passed away no one need fear the mares which have been exposed to but not suffered from it. Bo that as it may. and notwithstanding personal considerations. I am in my heart glad that so many difficulties are being thrown in the wav of the ex-jiort of our stock. These who enter mares for sak in December will do well to consider these difficulties, for if they cannot swear to a clean bill of health at home for six mouth--, they are really barred from the American market, though. I sup|iose. buyers there, as things are now. would have to pav whether they could get the necessary export papers or not. There is no warranty, express or implied. in Messrs. Tattersalls sale conditions that the lots disposed of ill the ring are eligible for export under the conditions of other countries, which conditions are being continually varied, some needing the Mal-lein test, some barring animals from an infected comity, which is absolutely absurd for one side of Xewmarket High street Is in a diffeient county from the other. The multiplicity of conditions is such that there is reasonable hone the export of bloodstock in December will not lie of such a disastrous character as might lie feared, but what aro our unfortunate breeders to do if thev find themselves unable to afford to carry on. and yet unable to sell?— W. B. Allison in London Sportsman.
