GENERAL NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 624, 29 September 1909, Page 10

GENERAL NOTES.

MEAT.INTERESTS CIIIErLY. * '• Ctfrl.' Anderson;' /of . -Ebngotea .-'(says oiiiv. /Feilding docked; his early la;mbs,.this - week ; i'ioih 402 fewds, "-which/ is about: half his breeding' flock,'/'-'Be' -dbcked''s7s lambs ; - 'i\'hich-;'giv.cs.'him-tJieWery-fino :yield. 6r-143'-pei''' ■/centi-.i-lHa,'/o)4iy f< "lbs.t ,'iive /eWes,"' and ''abouttwehtyTfiye iniafis 'right ..through - the. limbing'-/ -seasbu,. ; /-. / : ' Shearing' at' /AMtio, On the East Coast, is oxpccleil to beginrnext -Tuesday. /. '■ i ! Jfr/.'-l 1 .;-: Hutchinson,'-" ef-' ;RiSsin^bn, : -'- r Zealand,'Jin;/-:®'/letter'-,;, to/;'the Review,^">• invites "an. intbrchango .of . ideas on sheep-breeding'."./.He - has-made .some,investigatioh's.'/intq /origins-; of. the' >Rbinnby -/Marsh• ■ breed;'- arid--.coufesses, to> a' -belief .that; early/ in tho.;'past-'century, .''"a'-dash of :Leicester, : blobd did,by . some means/ find, its' way . into the/ old natrow-cninned, slab-sided Itomney." . Since that "period ; he- believes-,that improvement has' ■; bqcii/. Ijy selection 'only;,'. Ho raises the .theory that : the "brown .tinge' oh legs and", faces" came /from v.the-. Southdown,- and M puts it-forward as -a- fact ;to'be 'rejoiced 'over - as .-'inferring a ■.clbini - to some i.: of,.'...the. Southdown, mutton qualities.. ' • '■".'/•• •' .. ' /y'A'ustralite''meat'iMhsnrers have, raised - the-' jrgmjum. by. 7s. Gd. to 10s. per cent. This .brings'tlib rate of/insurance on frozen meat up to 50s. to 60s. per cent. '" *'.■ A good .deal of/carcass pork , has , been sold to Australian .cur'ers'lately, and this' business has I .raised: prices in, tho North Island above the ;(ev;el-at which -shipments,, to London can he .made. \ - It is considered/unlikely that there will : be: rauch 'to ;cQmpldinjof as, Regards' moisture, in New/ this season, realising the jvisdoih/bfi-stopping at a fair' and safe Goy'orhihent; analyses, also;.'will'/be made'.more, extensively, this season . than formerly.- . The. "Daily.-Mail"-.(London) -recently had a cablograni -/from,.America suggesting /that the .Meat Trjist' were, aiming to /secure and' : control meat'export-frtim/Australia..'Mr. Alban : Gee,\ howover, h'ns pointed out, that there-, is no truth/in the/statement..'. In- my.lettors for/the last years .^says>the. Homo correspondent of tho "Pastoralists* Jteview") ,1 havo reported, after, close' inquiries,;, tliftt tho Beef Trust", have no intention of -interfering with Australasia; at tho producing end. ' Where they have hurt the Australasian • meat interests, and;,will in'-, creasingly hurt them', is in. underselling on this market. Probably in this way they can do you more harm than if thoy were to acquire meat' works'"in JiTew.' Zealand: or. the Common- ' wealth,' .; aid '/ship themSolvos,' for thenthey.would havo to give' a fair/prico for-tho stock/. They; have imported New Zealand mutton and lamb for years into London, but .that is bought for them by",agents. Mr. A, W. Itutherford, of Mendip Hills, Gan.torbury, lias just bought in South Australia a Tain from /Mr. Alex. Murray for 300 guineas, and another from Murray Bros., of Ehino Park, at a similar price. -. A'.Taranaki farmer, speaking of the present splendid,.spring, . states that his first cheque this season'was £10 better tinn last year.-al-jthough'i'-he was/qnly..milking/ t~o sanio /number :of : 'cows. The tests aro proving better, and the, cows; are'milking more freely. 1 -' . 1 ■: A /strange moftality ' (says'"' the/ ''Oa&aru Mail") is afflic.ting. the sheep on the recently•'subdivided. Kauroo 'Hill Estate,' and as the nature of '.the trouble . has - hot: yet rovealed ijtsclf,-' -the. /settlers . -''tlio ■ : losa of

gravo concern. So far as we can gathor, the symptoms of the troublo are similar to tlioso of poisoning, and it is thought, that' tho sheep may have, boon devouring tutu, which abounds.on somo of tho sections, whilst others discount this idea bj; introducing .the fact of deaths^,haying- taken' place in 'localities' whero it is impossible to get any of. the poisonous' herbage.'- The matter has been reported to the Stock Department, and it is' not unlikely that' a veterinary official of tho Department .will be 1 sont. jto : ; investigate. • • .'■ , . ' parade in.JhvL. Webby's paddock s at mtham on Sntiirday is described as, "the finest'-stock parado ever hold by th'o' Egmont Agricultural and Pastoral Society in .that district. • It is .stated that'during, tho, past month 'no fewer, than fourteen primo bullocks, in additionto the;average number of fat sheep,-had to bo put-overboard, in comparatively-'smooth ..weather on tho way from Wnnganui to Foxton. Althe conditions on .tho stock steamers provido lip-to-dntn facilities' for watering and' feeding, the percentage of .losses is: .very, great.Shippers, -say -. that 6orae recent , heavy -losses-provo that turnip-fed- cattle, upi'n- which tho .winter supply, mainly depends, will not stand "tho • sea voyage' so well. as the grass •or .bush-fed cattle. •