AN AMBITIOUS PROJECT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1617, 7 December 1912, Page 8

AN AMBITIOUS PROJECT.

. TO NATIONALISE THE MERINO. An ambitious proposal to "nationalise' the merino has been put.'forward in the annual 'report of the New South Wales Department of Agriculture by Mr. J. H. Matthews, sheep and wool oxpert. Mr.'. Matthews Tecommends that the .Government should take it upon itself to preserve on an extensive scale the highest standard of quality, and purity in tho .merino, as he foresees in the wool industry in the disintegration oi stud after stud of the State's best flocks. Tho future of the merino, Mt. Matthews says, highly important ■ to New South Wales as it is,.is not by any means assured. "We dare not take any risks or. leavo tho matter- to chance. The futureof the merino must be made-as secure as human care and ' foresight can make it.' Closer settlement means _ disturbing natural balances, and, while no one can. doubt tho -necessity, no one can forecast the results to our industries. One result is necessarily the breaking-up of many and old-established merino flocks.'Many of these flocks have pttainod their present standard of perfection only after lifelong work on the part of their breeders. Once they are dispersed the typo will be irretrievably lost to tho great merino industry. The time may come when,' with the best intentions in the world and with no thoughts of allowing such it calamity, we may find ourselves unable to discover intact a single great merino flock in New South Wales. What would then be the result? The time is, therefore, ripe for consideration of tile interests of ourselves that posterity in this resnect, and for setting on foot some definite plan for the preservation-of tha merino. This is not a matter for private enterprise. Only the Government ran adequately attack -such a great and. important work. Nor would New South Wales bs the pioneer in this work. Other countries have faced and solved' tho same problem." ' • In asking the Government to takv "this great but absolutely necessarv stei< in'.the interests of the merino sheep," Mr.- Matthews takes the view that tho experiment'and demonstration farms aro admirable institutions and serve a hiirhly - useful purpose. _ "But th-ey are subject to certain limitations. They are comparatively small, and for tho future of- the merino larger areas are neeos?n,ry. Good work has been done:at tho farms, but what is .necessary \s another' area, not a' farm,; .but. a station, situated, in. a district •or districts suitable and naturally 'ada'p-.t-edj- where the merino could be preserved in. the. interests, of smaller - holders and ;breeder's generally. France did this for tho merino over a century ago,' establishing the world's famous Rambouillet flock, a. State flock for national purposes." Eight through, the vicissitudes of the past centiirj', he recalls, when other flocks, were either broken up, dispersed; or. de*.' stroyed by. war and other. crises, this srreat flock remained intact and provided France and the rest of the world with' pure . merino shfep, originally gathered from Spain, and so' tended that there may be se'en at Rambouillet' sheep of the 124 th generation' descended from the original pure merino stock. South .Africa at the .present time is working along on similar' lines. Finally, Mr. -Matthews/urges:—• "Now that' the balance of power -in sheep and wool has been shifted, and Australia has become the. great sheep growing country of the world, and , now that the merino has - seached a stage ,of development' ,m Australia surpassing any, previous mer-. ino strains, it is not too much to ask that New. South Wales establish a great pure, merino flock-on a great State"sta-tion.-which will supply New South Wales, Australia, and ultimately the world, with ,the. purest and.finest types of merino that the country can.produce."

v Th« most experienced' factory manager -.I? 11 SSynit®. a. Vafc-from- every standpoint and find nothing but praise'for its superiority. Not a 'drop of whey is retained by a "Victor" Vat—the curd is left, high and dry, while the whey escapes down the centre channel. Excellent workmanship is' another leading feature of "Victor" Vats. Albert J. Parton, Carterton.—Advt. '