THE SHEEP RETURNS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1862, 17 September 1906, Page 2

THE SHEEP RETURNS.

A GRADUAL INCREASE.

.(Special to Times.) Wellington, last night. The following are the sheep returns for 83 th April, 1906: Auckland, 1926 owners, 632,017 sheep. Napier, 2123 owners, 4,357 640 sheep. Wellington and West C0a5t,4057 owners, 4,520,074 sheep. Marlborough and NelsoD, 1964 owners, 1,048,567 sheep. Canterbury and Kaikoura, 4655 owners, 5,261,893 sheep. Otago, 4541 owners, 3,788,280 sheep. , Totals, 19.265 owners, 20,108,471 sheep. The owners inoreased during the year by 342, and the number of sheep by 977.596, The sheep rate amounted to £20,108. The total number of sheep's made up as follows: Stud rams, 9265; flock ramß, 232,662 ; wetherp, 2,788,900 ; breeding ewes, 10,479,187 ; dry eweß, A 932,734; lambs, 5,665,723, Tho merino • sheep in the and the orossbreda and other longwoolij 1 17,821,497. ? r During the last two years been a large decrease in the nunpiber of ‘ dry ewes (932,734 as against 10,427,847 in 1904), but the number of breeding ewes (10,479,187) is the greatest in the history of the colony. The following table gives the number of sheep in tbe'oolony sinoe 1897 1897,19,687,954; 1898,19,673,725; 1899, 19.348,506 ; 1900,19,355,195 ; 1901, 20,233,099 ; 1902, 20,342,727 ; 1903, 18.954,553 ; , 1904, 18,280,806 ; 1905, 19,130 875 ; 1906, 20,108,471. There are 10,009,731 sheep in the North Island, and 10,098,740 in the South Is« land.

The net increase for the North Island is 62,226, and for the South Island 358.470, the total net increese for the oolonv being 977,590. . ,