what he says to heart:—‘There could be no better service rendered to the horse universe than the passing of an Act of Parliament rendering it a misdemeanour for any one shoeing a horse to reduce the thickness of his soles or frog’—he omits to state the evils of cutting out the bars—‘or to put under his heels or quarters iron exceeding a defined thickness, except under the certificate of a qualified veterinary surgeon, who should, after examining the horse, explain the need for the same. Horses, like every other property, are national property, and a man owning them mediately has no more right to deface them than he has to deface the coin of the realm, which he also owns only mediately. ’What is mine is my own‘ is still the creed, not only of the vulgar, but of those who ought, at least, to know the rudiments of political economy.’
The writer thinks with Mr. Fearnley, that the question should be one for the Government; but then there is that awful red tape, which, slight as it is to look at, holds progress in bonds. So there is no hope from that quarter for the present. It is only two years ago that Mr. Fearnley expressed himself thus, and it is possible that no member of either the late or the present Government, even if they read his book, bestowed any attention upon it, although there is, perhaps, not a single member of either that has not been at loss and inconvenience through a horse being badly shod. That makes no difference to them. They have their political squabbles to keep up over aliens, and we and our
