20 AUGUST 1910, Page 16

PIT PONIES.

[To THE EDITOR or THE "SPECTATOR"]

Srn,—My attention having been drawn by correspondence in the papers to the wretched plight of pit ponies, I was some- what surprised to find that the most practical method of putting an end to the sufferings of the animals (and moral degradation of the men) had not been adopted in this country. I allude to motor locomotion for hauling trucks at the bottom of pita instead of horses. These machines are in use in Belgium, Germany, Austria, and Holland, and are not only satisfactory as to results, but an actual saving of from forty to sixty per cent. to employers. Why does England cling to systems that are regarded by other nations (and her own Colonies) as obsolete P—I am, Sir, &e., PRACTICAL.