Annual Administration Report of the Department of Horse-Breeding Operations
for 1887-88.

                                             No. 7705.

                                                                                 REVENUE DEPARTMENT.

                              Bombay Castle, 19th November 1888.

Letter from the Superintendent of Horse-Breeding Operations, No. 793, dated 14th July
1888—Submitting the Annual Administration Report of the Department of Horse-
Breeding Operations in the Bombay Presidency and Beluchistán for the year 1887-88.

RESOLUTION.—During the year under review Mr. Grainger visited several
places in Sind, but his tour in the Presidency proper appears to have been
confined to the Ahmedabad, Poona, Sátára and Dhárwár Districts As regards
the branding of mares the results of his tour compare unfavourably with those
of the previous
year, in which
more than twice
as many mares
were branded.
Respecting the
figures in the
marginal table, it
may be noticed
that those for the
year under re-
view which are
taken from para-
graph 76 of Mr.
Grainger's re-
port, do not tally with the details given in the early paragraphs thereof. It would
appear from his remarks in paragraph 110 that he has not yet visited and does
not propose to visit Belgaum or Bijápur. He should be requested to state
whether this remark applies to any other districts in which Government Stallions
are stationed, and also, with reference to Government Resolution No. 8986 of
23rd December 1886, he should report in what districts he considers that he has
already made a sufficiently extensive tour and branded a sufficient number of
mares to render it safe to withdraw from civil officers the power to grant certi-
ficates referred to in that Resolution.

2. At the beginning of the year under review the total number of Govern-
ment Stallions on the books was 122, consisting of 79 horses and 43 ponies. Of
these 5 died during the year, 9 were sold, I was given away and 14 (in
Beluchistán) were transferred to the Bengal register. On the other hand 6 were
received from England, 3 were bought locally, and 1 was presented by
Mr. Keyser, C.S. At the end of the year the total number was 103, consisting
of 59 horses and 44 ponies. In future information should be given as to where
the horse and pony stallions are respectively stationed.

3. The services of the stallions were rather more in demand than in the
previous year, but nevertheless the average number of mares covered per
stallion was only 35 while at some stations it is evident from the last column of
Appendix VIII that the stallions remained almost entirely idle. Some expla-
nation of the last-mentioned fact should have been and should always be given,
and it is especially necessary to ascertain the cause of such unsatisfactory results'
when the Superintendent recommends (paragraph 73) expenditure on improved
stable accommodation at all the present stallion stands not already properly pro-
vided there with, and when it appears that the percentage of produce foaled to
mares covered continues to be very small. The results of the coverings in
1886-87 were ascertained in 1,964 cases, out of a total number of 2,765 mares
covered, and these results were only 735 foals, a percentage of 37.4, so that it
is abundantly clear that stallions cannot profitably continue to be stationed at
several of the present stations unless some satisfactory explanation is forthcoming
of the poor results as regards mares covered now reported, or unless there is