Page:Omnibuses and Cabs.djvu/110

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Omnibuses and Cabs

horses which it possessed was 16,714. The oats, maize, beans, and peas consumed by the company's horses in six months weighed 25,299 tons.

The Company builds its own omnibuses at its works at Highbury. Its stables are dotted all over London, and some of the newly erected ones are enormous places. Those at Dollis Hill, which accommodate over six hundred horses, are at present surrounded by fields, and so far away from public-houses and other delights of London civilization, that the 'busmen, in disgust, have named it "Klondyke."

From "Klondyke" and many other omnibus stables, a large number of horses have been sent to the seat of war in South Africa. Some time ago the Government made an an arrangement with various omnibus companies for the purchase of a certain number of horses in time of war. For each horse the Government pays, in time of peace, 10s. per annum. The average price paid for each horse claimed for active service was £60. The horses taken were well seasoned and accustomed to hard work. The sudden requisitioning of many hundreds of their best animals caused the various omnibus companies considerable