How N.Z. Livestock Is Being Used In China

Chronicle (Levin), 18 May 1948, Page 4

How N.Z. Livestock Is Being Used In China

! Last year some 400 head of I cattle and 1000 sheep were purchas- | ed in New Zealand by UNRRA and ! consigned to China. How this I stock fared 011 the voyage and the a use to which it is being put in I China was told to the Levin Rotary 1 |Club, at its weekly luncheon yesSjterday, by Mr. K. Choy, B. Sc. 2 (Agr.), of Massey College, Palmers1 ton North. Present as guests of the I club were a number of farmers, I two of whom had cattle amqng the ! number sent. I Mr. Choy, who was in ehargs of | the stock for the voyage and was I associated with 'its distribution on | arrival, came to New Zeajand from I China in 1941. He undertook I courses at Massey ' College and ! graduatsd in 1946. He is now I undergoing hi's post-graduate I course there. ! The consignment eomprised 10&0 I Corriedale sheep from Canterbury I and 400 head of, cattie from the I North Island, sai'd iMr. Choy. The 1 latter included '30Q'"cOWs"artd '100 2 bulls of the Jersey, Shorthorn, 2 Friesian and Ayrshire breeds. The I stock had been taken on board 1 ship at Auckland and from there 2 proceeded direet to Shanghai. The S only trouble during the voyage had I been experiencd in the tropics, £ where shipping fever had broken ! cut among the stock. Little could I be done to cure mr check it and (some . mortality had resulted, paiv ticularly among the animals , ! accommodated in the lower holds. INine cows and 25 sheep had been lost before the vessel reached Shanahai'.

j Despite some of the methods of * transport and the rigors Qf the | journey from Shanghai to the I yarious parts of China to. which the j sitock was sent on arrival, not a single loss was suffered, continued ! Mr. Choy. In fact in one case 400 j sheep had been loaded on planes at j Shanghai and at their ultimate ! destination there had been 401, one | .of the ewes having given birth to a j lamb during transit. The distribution of the stock ln China had been arrang'ed by the Ministry of Agriculture, advised Mr. Choy, and the whole of the consignment had been sent tq Government research stations. There they would be used as the nucleus for breeding further animals. UNRRA had done a tremendous amount of relief work in China ! despite the difficulties which had been plaeed in its, way by the unsettled political ' situation. The personnel at its headquarters in Shanghai numbered about 3000. Referring to conditions in China, Mh Choy said that inflation hadj made the cost- of living very high, j b.ut the people did not view, the. 'situation as seriously as the outside world. The political situation wasj most unsatisfactory and in Northern China the Communists were becoming stronger and stronger. , He had been struck by the power- ; ful eifect American influence was, having on China, examples of ; which were to be seen on every1 hand. He felt that more should be done to bring about a better knowledge of .each other between New, Zealand and China. The speaker answered a number | of questions at the conclu'sion of ; his talk,,and was accorded a hearty vote of thanks. , • ,