Few New Zealanders know that in numbers we lead the whole world in the export of thoroughbred animals. Our totals, for instance, are six or seven times those of Great Britain, and often equal all the rest of the world. There are logical reasons for this unique position. It is a commonplace that animals from the Northern Temperate Zone improve in size and quality when they settle in New Zealand. The rich largesse of sunny skies, mild temperatures and ample rainfall, join with the gift of a soil which is the golden sand of fertility. Our country has been fashioned by Nature to be the ideal place on the earth's surface for the development of the best of every type of animal. This article proposes to show that our forebears recognised this wonder at a very early date, and will treat of the stupendous achievement already reached, and the glorious possibilities of the future.

Astately London weekly observed not so long ago, “Someone has said that the reading of detective stories is the recreation of all superior minds. On the contrary, if they were really superior, it would be their only occupation.” I know a better form of this indoor sport, and that is the study of the breeding of the thoroughbred. I do not limit the latter category to the thoroughbred horse, for the breeding of sheep, beef and dairy cattle, dogs and pigs, carries the same blend of crossword puzzle delight and high romance. To the theorist it is a recreation, but for the practical exponent it is another matter. The natural advantages of our country for this specific purpose are overwhelming, but the art or science of breeding depends finally on the skill of its practitioners, their fidelity to purpose and unswerving devotion. Our forebears brought all these qualities with them, and when our centennial year arrives, I believe that the brightest pages of our first century's history will be those that tell of the achievement of our studmasters.

Perhaps, too, by the time our year of celebration arrives, the thoroughbred industry will have had its share of practical encouragement, as has been lately done in Ireland, but even without further stimulus, its growth will continue. The extent, value and importance of our present exports of this category are not known or appreciated. Mr. Charles Robertson, New Zealands' best known figure in this

A well-known Stud Farm in the North Island of New Zealand.

arena, mentioned to me quite casually a day or two ago that his firm had shipped on the previous Saturday, 125 stud sheep whose value was £7,000 or thereabouts. In a year at least 2,500 thoroughbred animals leave these shores for all the lands of the Seven Seas: Chile, Argentina, Soviet Russia, Japan, Peru, and most European countries, and, of course, our great neighbour, Australia, are names taken at random. As a rule, I do not care for figures, but the list set out below is so impressive that it tells its own eloquent story. The stud flocks and herds shown are those officially recognised by the various breed associations who maintain systems of rigorous inspection, constant scrutiny, and jealously guarded standards.

	Farm Horses.
Clydesdale Breeders	871
	Sheep.
Corriedale Breeders	157
Merino Breeders	48
Romney Breeders	599
Lincoln Breeders	64
Southdown Breeders	772
Ryeland Breeders	69
	South Island Flock Book.
English Leicester	107
Border Leicester	156
Shropshire	48
Suffolk	5
Half-bred	23
	Milking Cattle.
Jersey Breeders	2194
Fresian Breeders	564
Milking Shorthorn Breeders	504
Ayrshire Breeders	291

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Palermo—Argentina. New Zealand Champion Sheep.

Beef Cattle.

You will notice that this list does not include the New Zealand breeders of the thoroughbred horse, but the story of the English horse of to-day contains not only the whole romance of breeding, but also the main principles of its science.

As an old writer said: “The English thoroughbred horse is as little indebted for his excellent qualities to the native horse of our country, as are the present race of Englishmen to the Ancient Britons for their national character.” The evolution of the English running horse had started with Roman and Gothic crosses in the misty past. Athelstan, son of Alfred the Great, left horses by name in his will. King John and Edward I imported stallions, but it was not until the reign of James I that horse racing and its accompaniment, the study of breeding, came into its own. He bought the White Turk, and the Duke of Buckingham and the Helmsley Turk. Charles II bought many Eastern horses, but it was reserved for the time of Queen Anne not only to produce a golden age of literature, but to lay the foundation of the world supremacy of the English thoroughbred horse. It is a long story, but the magic fact remains that the whole English equine peerage traces its ancestry to three animals, the Darley Arabian, the Byerly Turk, and the Godoplhin Arabian. Families that are distinguishable have taken form among the descendants of this great trio and names such as Waxy, Orville, Buzzard, Blacklock, and Partisan, are among the early progenitors of aristocratic clans. It was the judicious crossing and intermingling of these lines of blood that was the study of those early studmasters, and its successful outcome created our modern speed machine, heightened the courage, increased the intelligence, and strengthened the stamina of the whole range of horses. For the benefit of lay readers, let me explain that “inbreeding” is the “pairing of animals within the relationship of second cousins,” and an examination shows that nearly all first-class racehorses unite the same strains of blood within that degree. “Crossbred” simply describes an animal that is not inbred (for four or five generations). Then here is a neat and very old explanation of another breeding problem. “If General

A typical weekly yarding at a New Zealand Sheep Sale.

Grant's son were to marry General McClellan's daughter, and the result were to be another good general, the ‘cross’ would be said to ‘nick’.”

It was certain that in the purely British company of New Zealand pioneers, there would be many horse lovers. Within a decade, the importation of thoroughbreds from England and Australia was in full swing. It was our good fortune that in those days we had many men whose skill was undoubted, their vision clear, and their foresight almost uncanny. To them we largely owe our present proud position, for to-day New Zealand stands as almost the peer of the Motherland and has no superior elsewhere in the world. This ascendancy is mainly due, in my opinion, to our possession of maternal sire lines of surpassing variety and extraordinary richness. I like to think that it was distinctively characteristic of our New Zealand forebears that the first New Zealand Stud Book appeared within ten years of the establishment of horse-breeding, whereas in Australia half a century went by before there was any systematisation of records.

It is thrilling to read in a book made in Nelson over seventy years ago, the pedigree of Flora McIvor, of Stock-well, Sir Hercules and Traducer, and a dozen other kings and queens of the turf during their reigns, and a tabloid library of breeding wisdom. Names such as St. Hill, Harris and Innes, Captain Walmsley, Petre, Dillon, Redwood, Moorehouse, and Clifford are page 26 page 27

Fine examples of the Polled Hereford at a Gisborne Stud Farm.

selected at random as pioneers who found time and money to lay the foundations of our own running lines.

In those days, too, times were being closely watched and tables in those yellowing pages show that the speed of colonial races was even then close to the best English standards. The actual times seem quaint to-day, Potentate at Nelson doing a mile and a half in 252, which was seconds faster than the Epsom Derby of the same year. The New Zealand-bred Phar Lap won the Derby in Melbourne and Sydney in a fraction over 2.31, and Wotan, the New Zealander who won the last Melbourne Cup clipped twenty-two seconds off the time and carried a stone more than The Barb, who won in 1866. The latter had beaten the 3,600 guinea colt Fishhook over six furlongs in 1.19 in 1866.

There is not space here to picture the giants who worked over the succeeding years to bring to perfection the New Zealand thoroughbred horse. Every year aristocratic sultans are imported, and throughout the history of our land our studmasters have shown increasing excellence of judgment and expert skill.

The sign and symbol of the success of the years gone by, combine in the Trentham (Wellington) annual yearling sales. These are conducted by the New Zealand firms of Wright, Stephenson, and Pyne, Gould, Guinness, in conjunction with the great Australian house of Inglis. Our picture shows Messrs. Charles Robertson and Derek Gould in the Rostrum. I predict that next January will see the record New Zealand sale of all time. For years past Trentham-sold youngsters have swept the rich prizes on both sides of the Tasman. This year will see a new crop or two, notably that of Beau Pere, and there will be the old reliables such as Hunting Song, Siegfried, Pink Coat, and a dozen others. But, whoever the sire may be, I want to reiterate that the New Zealand advantage always applies. This lies in our heritage of bloodstock built by our first forebears, improved by the devotion and skill of generations, and nurtured in a terrain which is matchless on the whole earth's surface for the growing of the thoroughbred aristocrat. Trentham yearling sales should have the attention of the whole Dominion focussed upon them, for they constitute a national event of vast importance.

Further, on the subject of horses, I expect most readers would get a surprise at the heavy list of Clydesdale breeders. This “best of all” farm horse has been produced by the same intensive breeding system as the racing and hunting thoroughbred. A great horse named “Baron's Pride” is the Byerly Turk or at least the St. Simon of this breed, and no less than ten crosses of his blood can be found in many pedigrees. New Zealand Clydesdale studs rejoice in a plentiful ownership of this strain, our studmasters continually replenish with imported champions, and our Clydesdales are of world parity.

Sheep.

As you will have seen, stud flocks in New Zealand of all classes of sheep, are numbered by the thousand. As a news item, I suppose the most dramatic happening in this sector of the breeding front was the creation here of a new breed, a new type of sheep, the far-famed Corriedale. Mr. James Little, grandfather of the present studmaster, perfected and stabilised this useful new animal, and New Zealand Corriedales now go to all pastoral countries in the world and bring the most amazing prices. In South America in particular, from Ecuador to Patagonia, “Hui Hui” and “Glenorchy” are household names.

Closely approximating the Corriedale in New Zealand distinctiveness are our Lincolns and Romneys. I saw

A shipment of 100 Corriedale stud ewes and rams being shipped from Wellington, New Zealand, to Japan.

page 28 page 29 in a handsomely illustrated stud stock journal of Buenos Ayres, show-ring pictures of the “Lincoln-New Zealand type.” The wool is finer and a better general utility animal has evolved here than the original Lincoln. Almost the same observation applies to New Zealand's most generally used sheep, the Romney Marsh. The famous Wairongomai flock is the doyen of these snowy aristocrats in the North Island, and its blood is proclaimed by many breeders. It is believed that the influence of the original Merino flocks has produced the superior wool and mutton qualities of the New Zealand Romney. Southdowns, Ryelands, Merinos and the English and Border Leicester, the Shropshire and Suffolk all have their expert breeders and exponents. It is assured that, in the future, all these breeds also will improve in the same way.

Messrs. Robertson and Gould at the Trentham Yearling Sales.

Cattle.

“The Empire's Dairy Farm,” as New Zealand has been so long called, naturally pays attention to bloodstock among its milking cattle, and the figures of the recognised stud herds of Jerseys, Friesians, Ayrshire and Milking Shorthorn are most imposing. World champions have arisen here and our standard rises every year.

But it is in the region of beef cattle that the most fascinating narrative emerges. The importation of the great “Royal Gem” from Canada, by Mr. Humphreys of Ngatapa (with the assistance of the ubiquitous Mr. Charles Robertson) founded the great innovation in beef cattle—the hornless, or polled Hereford. This bull was the “Musket” of this breed, but there are many fine stud herds now, as well as those of the horned Hereford. Also there are the Aberdeen Angus and the Shorthorn which have become so prominent since the advent of chilled beef. The mating of these two produces the famous “Scots Greys.” We have in New Zealand the largest stud herd of Aberdeen Angus in the Southern Hemisphere, and we must not forget either that double utility animal, the Red Poll.

Is it any wonder that stock buying experts come to New Zealand continually from all parts of the world? Without being invidious, I may single out for notice Mr. Charles Robertson as the most efficient publicist, general adviser, technician and guide on this sector of the export front. He has been on the job for fifteen years, and before that was an editor of a farming paper. His enthusiasm is almost of the religious order, and his world travelling puts him in the human encyclopaedia class. Other great firms have their departments also to attend to this rapidly expanding industry.

But whether we go back to the past, to our unique feat of producing Trenton and Carbine, the latter to go to England to re-establish winning families, Sir Modred to leave his mark in U.S.A.; or our production of Phar Lap; whether we turn to the marvel of the world popularity of our thoroughbred cattle and sheep of every kind and type; whether we count our great institutions such as Massey and Lincoln Colleges and the practical and scientific training given in many High Schools; whether we point with pride to the great business organisations that have grown to meet the countless

New Zealand's own sheep creation—the Hui Hui Corriedale.

needs of this great industry, there remains one final and foundational necessity—the human element. Stud management and the breeding art are not lightly learned. They call for years, and even generations of study, work and experience. They bespeak a zeal of genuine intensity and qualities of visual judgment, concentration, specialist ability and endless patience over long years. And not least, financial courage of a high order is just as necessary, for thousands take the place of single pounds when our studmasters are buying the world's best. Our fellow-countrymen have proved their possession of these qualities. It is for the community to appraise them properly, and to support a cause which is such an integral part of New Zealand's march to her place in the sun.

Splendid types of the Aberdeen Angus beef cattle.
(Photo., courtesy “N.Z. Farmer.”)

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