AT THE SALE'YARDS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 152, 21 March 1908, Page 6

AT THE SALE'YARDS.

A SKETCH. There was a somewhat. pathetic ■ spectacle at_ a-. Wairarapa stock -sale ' just beforo : the rain fell, (writes our Wairarapa correspondent). There wore considerably- over a thousand sheep, and many head, of cattle yarded,and in nearly every case each animal showed severely tho stress of the drought. - Some of tho sheep, notably the aged ewes, wero in a. deplorablo condition. They: stood, with great hollow sides and dreary-looking eyes, the picture .of misery on four legs.'' It is no ; wonder that the prices a.t which they were sold, 3s. per head, reflected their ultimate destination, . namely, the potter's"', cauldron; Hundreds,-were bought up'iii this manner. " It is the lowest prico sheep havo touched for nine years," said a prominent farmer. "If rain had fallen.to any extent,''there might, have been a hope that the owner would havo been ablo to obtain'another , lamb! out of, them, but now they are too far down,'and, as it' is-hardly ■ probable that' they would have lived through' the winter, they are going to the boiling-down works." ; Shortly afterwards, the , auctioneer,' after much trouble, sold a lino of woedy-look-ing lambs at 2s. a head, and then moved on to a' line of store ewes; which had been bought' previously for forward delivery at,l7s. 6d. a head. Bidding ran up to 7s. 6d. tJ . " What shall I - do?" asked tho auctioneer. , * " Oh, sell them, sell them," said tho .owner. "Do anything with them. I can't take them home, for I've ho feed." And sold they wero. Farmers stood round and.talked of rain as if they,-had never seen rain' in their lives, and looked at • the. lowering sky,- and declared rcsontfully that it could not rain. It would never rain." On numbers of sheep pens was seen the mark of the Government stock inspector informing the public that there , were, sheep . here infected -with, lico. Water had been scarce, the sheep had fallon in'condition, and they were tho prey of the parasites. - The-'animals could not bo dipped. at the yards, because:' there was no water; the well had gone dry. There was a frightful -dullness in-: dairy stcck. Bidding for dairy cows would start at 10s. a head, and an offer by the auctioneer to allow a small herd of; dairy cows, in calf; to go at 255. a head, was refused. '-' The only bright- spot in the wholo!sale was the fact that sheep dogs brought'up to £8 each. Tho lot. of-the farmer was sad indeed that day. But that night it commenced to rain, and continued for twenty-four hours, and it is _stil] raining. And men in the farm districts are praying; fervently that it will continue to: rain for' a-week withoutstopping.