SHEEP RETURNS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 267, 31 July 1918, Page 8

SHEEP RETURNS

INCREASE OP OA'EK A MILLION. "Our sheep have increased by over a million, much to the astonishment, 1 dare say, of those who wanted to interfere with the killing of owe lambs; but it is not altogether clear whether or no this is not dno to the fnct that we have not killed as many as the previous year, and it is again complicated by the fact that our stores ara nearly full," said Sir James "Wilson at the Farmers' Union Conference yesterday. "We exported only Gill,ooo fewer carcasses this year than last, yet we have many more carcasses in store than we had nt this time last year. We are, however, 2,2!8.. l ib 9 carcasses short of the year before. The main fact, however, remains that we have increased our flocks by over a million, and it is significant that the increase is nearly all in the South Island. In Ihe North Island sheep have given way to a much greater extent to dairy stock than in the south, and had it not been for the great strides dairying has math in the two last decades the tola! number of sheep would have been setting near to forty millions. Mr. Eraser in his statistics has been making some comparisons as to the number of sheep and the weight of wool in the' various counties. He was good enough to supply me with some figures showing the weight of fleece per district according to the information he had at hand. " II may be rough, but it gives a fair indication of the rclativ" output of fhe various counties and land districts. I have only space for the latter: — Lb. Ih. Auckland G. 72 AVeslland ii.7 Tlawke's Bav 8.3!) Canterbury .... 7.2 Taranaki B.BS Otago fi.fl Wellington .... 8.1-1 Southland ....6.29 Nelson 5.01 Marlborough 7.21 Dominion... 7.">S