ENGLISH ROMNEYS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 46, 18 November 1907, Page 2

ENGLISH ROMNEYS.

SOME INCONSISTENCIES. Statements aro occasionally made that the English Romnoys are inferior to our own. At tho presont time, of tho four Romnoy rams in the Dominion that stand highest in the claim for tho championships, only one is locally bred. Tho four wo alludo to aro Mr. G, Wheeler's Royalist (which lias beaten all comers) and Loyalist (both imported), Mr. E. Short's ncwost candidate, reserve 'champion at Wanganui and Palmcrston (imported), and Mr. Collins's Wanganui champion (locally bred by Mr. Riddiford). Even somo brecdors who have gone to England and pnrchascd Romnoys at liigh prices have declared on their return (if newspaper reports

be true) that the English Romneys are inferior. It is a good sign when New Zealandors search the world for better blood tor their stud flocks, but their action at least proves that the Englishmen have something worth buying. Another criticism sometimos heard against the English show judges is that they judge carelessly— not handling the sheep, but standing some distance away and judging solely by the eye. The error made here (says a' prominent New Zealand judge) is in comparing English methods of judging sheep recently shorn with the New Zealand practice of judging thorn in the wool. The elaborate handling that our judges indulge in is necessary for fully investigating the llceco and what is beneath it—a mode that is not so necessary with a shorn sheep. The latter s qualities are more visible to the eye.