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, i I • i s t COL. W. HALL WALKERS OFFER FAILS. It was recently published in American newspapers that Col. W. Hall Walker had donated his great bre iliiig establishments iu Ireland and England to the British government and that his munificent offer ha.d been accepted. In all except the acceptance the rejiort was correct. The offer was made, but the government officials did not find time to consider the offer and it was withdrawn, concerning which "Auger" said in London Sporting Life of November 20: "As announced yesterday. Col. Hall Walker ha withdrawn his offer to hand over his Tully breeding stud and Russley Park training quarters to the government for the MM of founding a national stud. Personally. I looked for no other result of the colonels magnanimous offer, for the simple reason that there was uot the slightest hope cf official red tai e being unwound quickly enough for the matter to be discussed, let alone arranged, within the available margin of time. Apparently Col. Hall Walker himself has come to the sace conclusion, with the result that the bloodstock he has entered for sale at Newmarket a week today will duly come under the hammer. "It is untrue, nevertheless, to assert, as has been done in non-sporting papers, that the whole of the Tttlly Stud inmates will be offered next week. As a matter of fact, only the broodmares, yearling fillies and certain horses in training will be submitted on the occasion named, and there will thus be left this years crop of foals, as well as the stallions. AU this, by the way. however, and what I particularly want to emphasize at the moment is the failure of the government departments concerned to cast aside, for once in a way. whatever obstacles in the shape of regulations stood between acceptance and refusal of an offer as valuable as it was unique. Everybody is aware, or ought to be, that government officials in every department have their hands too full at present to deal with frivolous or useless suggestions, but when a really valuable one comes tlieir way. there surely ought to be some means in existence whereby an acceptance can be come to without loss of time. "It has been asserted frequently since the war settled down into a trial of strength in the matter of guns and projectiles that the horse is no longer of anv service in warfare. Early in the present hostilities, however, the cavalry on both sides was proved to be indispensable, and if since then it has been almost entirely a matter of continual entrencn-ment. it is in every way probable that cavalrv regiments will play a prominent part in the concluding stages of the long-sustained conflict. Apart from that, however, who can predict with any pretence of certainty in what part of the world the next war will take place? Conditions elsewhere might be the reverse of those which are being experienced today and the horse once more become a vital factor in" the sphere in which he has so often played a leading part. "That future British governments will find themselves compelled to pay a vast amount of attention to the maintenance of a proi er supply of horses for army purples is altogether Iteyond question. France. Russia and Italy, as well as our enemies. German y and Austria, all realised the necessity for doing so long ago. and if it lie contended that we have got along well so far without having res. rt to the methods employed on the continent, the obvious reply Is that the necessity for «-omplete revolution in this, as well as many other directions, has long since lieen demonstrated. We are required today to bring our whole manhood into line in tile countrys defense, to darken our streets and dwelling houses, to eat and drink less and to practice economy generally, none of which trials has ever been inflicted U|mmi the present or several past generations. Is it unreasonable to inquire, there- fore, why the government remains, as it apparently does do. quite unperturbed in the face of the constant draining of our bloodstock reserves, ami more- over neglects such a golden oplxirtnnity to arrest the evil as was presented by Col. Hall Walkers patriotic offer?" — — 1
