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t I i - a i t I « I - I - - . ] P j J s | . II e 1 • e l i i j i . a l . r COL. WALKERS GIFT FINALLY ACCEPTED. Just when no one was look i eg for such action. the British government suddenly about faced and aceepted Col. W. Hall Walkers gift of his great Irish and English breeding and training cstahlUb-S lnents. Of this London Sporting Life of December 4. said: "The acceptance by the government of "1. W. Hall Walkers generous otTer has not as vet been commented upon to any great extent, but that the majority of folk will agree that the raven have acted wisely in deciding not to let slip such an opportunity of acquiring tlie nucleus of a national stud may be taken for granted. The extent of the colonels generosity may be roughly estimat-d by the fact that the government have obtained the Tully Stud and Russley Park, together with a hundred thousand poumls worth of bloodstock -even at war prices — on tortus that would have m.-nie instant appeal to a private speculator on the loikcut for a bargain. The Tully Stud, which occupies some thousand acres of County Kildare. is one f the most famous establishments of its kind iu the kingdom, and numerous are the equine celebrities that it has s nt forth. It was at Tully that Minoru. King Edwards third Derby winner, was lasted, as were also such others which have left their footprints in the sands of time. as White Eagle, Witch Elm, Cherry Lass, Royal Realm. Night Hawk, Great Sport. Polar Star and Prince Palatine, for which Mr. J. B. Joel gave 4u.0t i pounds. The mi-J jority of these were included in tlie offer, together with such well bred animals as Carrickfergus. White Prophet. Rattlejack and Black Kite, all of which should beget Cartel stock in later years. Ru-sley Park is one of the finest estates in Wiltshire. Again we congratulate the government. "Had the offer lieen finally rejected and the ani-» mals come under the hammer at yesterdays sales. there is no doubt that s-veral of the lots would have found new homes in other lands, to the advan-i tage of the particular countries and tlie corrcs-i ponding disadvantage of this. The importance f horsedesh and the breeding industry has not been sufficiently realized I England, though the desirabil- ity of having a stud under national control has been from time to time debated by those intereste-l in the subject. Several years ago. indeed, the lat-r Sir Walter Gilbey. himsdf an extensive breeder. produced a liooklet xi Horses for the Army. in which the baronet asserted that the establishment of government dc|»ots for horse breeding iu this country would not he a success, one of the reasons being expense and another the discouragement t v private individuals. "These views may or may not have been right : t the time of their expression, but in any case th« circumstances are totally different now. We havo been at war for fifteen months and the drain on our horse supply during this period has been enormous. Colonel Walker himself is of he opinion that the private breeding of horses has lie.-n s thing of a failure and is obviously convinced that more is required. What is calculated to meet the e:»s,. -. and the shortage of horses is not arguable — lietter Continued on. second page. COL. WALKERS GIFT FINALLY ACCEPTED. Continued from first page. than a national stud? The question of expense, too, is in some degree ruled out in view of the generosity • if the colonels terms; though, of course, in this matter it is not suggested that the fully Stud and its bloodstock represents the Alpha and Omega of the business. Other properties and animals will be required, and hen- it is that others similarly placed to Colonel Walker get their opportunity of furthering the national eause. In auy event, the government has made a good start."
