South American Meat and Wool.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1486, 21 October 1885, Page 4

South American Meat and Wool.

The following extract' from a letter just received from. a gentleman engaged m sheep and cattle farming m the River Plate district will be read with interest (says the Sydney Mail) now that the question of the close competition of South American wool has rather an ominous outlook for the staple Australian industries m wool, tallow, and hide. The writer was for 10 years m Uruguay, then came to New. Zealand for about five ■years, but seeing no good there returned again to South America m 1881, and is now sub-manager of a large estancia of 70,000 acres, close to Liebig's celebrated meat preserving works":— "Station management is similar to our own, 12 men only being required to work this estate, whilst boundary riding has to be diligently performed. Some yaars ago the Rbmney Marsh sheep were introduced to cross with the native merino, und with good results. It will be recollected that this Kentish sheen is | a distinct long-woolled breed, having much m common with the old "Lincolns^ and have been modified by a lar>e infusion of Leicester blood. On the Argentine side of the River Plata some new country has been lately opened by the Great Southern Railway of Buenos Ayres. k few years ago the country was. overrun with Pampas, Indians ; now^ however, all is taken up and'settled, and has a great future before it. For about 400 miles due south from Buenos ' Ayjes; it is one immense treeless plain as fiat as! a table, spleudidly grassed and watered ; at least water is obtainable within 9 or; : 10 feet .of the surface wherever; you go.i Thousands of square leSagues have been fenced m and stocked, at first with cattle; and horses to eat off the coarse grasses; and^ prepare the land .for sheep. One} man whose land' T passed through hadi 50,000 horse,s and mares pasturing, there--on ; here and there were large lagoons,; some of brackish water, others of fresh,and covered with myriads of wild f owl,= swans, geese, ducks, etc. but the. flatness and want of trees are a great drawback' and! make the country dreadfully mono-! tonous. It is a. good thing for railroads, \ however, as they are made very cheaply,) and do a large business, increasing eve*ry| year. Some day there Avill be a lareef curplus of cattle, sheep, wheat, _ maize, ■ etc. from these plains, but they will take some few years to get under culture. Trees grow very quickly., ■ and whenever a new place is started one sees, an island of blue gums, wattles^ willows, peach, j poplar, and quick -growing trfees. There: being no firewood for fuel, nearly every- j one uses sheep dung, which is cut m! squares like peat .to dry,, and indeed it' burns a good deal like peat and is not a j bad substitute for wood. Italian imtni • . gration to Bonenos Ayres is on a large 1 Last year over 100,000, principally Italians, landed there, and all got employment at once. As may be imagined, such a large influx of immigrants per annum makes a large hole m the number of fat cattle which formerly found their way to the salaeerbs. The old: jerked beef business is, however, getting played ouk.owitog'to the smaller,,demand from Brazil, eto^j= wheW the slaves *are being emancipated by degress, and they were the principal customers. Liebie"s jsaladero at Frya: Bentos, (near us) ris coining money, however, and this year they have slaughtered 174,000 Jiead, , of oattle. Prices have been lower , than usual this year. We sold 1700 steers; 3 years.old, at 54s 2d per head, and 1200 cows at 87s 6d, out of our stock of j. 10,000 head oi cattle. Wool is very low, only 6d per Tb greasy, so that it has' not been a very good year for estancieros. On the whole, however, this country is fairly prosperous, and with an absence of the usual civil war or revolution things are bound to go ahead." The ipbjects of interest m this letter maybe thus summarised :— An admirable climate, jk fertile soil, aboundance of water, a voyage of 6,400 miles; to London, local markets, with one establishment alone* using more than two and a half times the supply of cattle to the Sydney market per annum, native ,Jabor ; utilised, immigration welcomed, 100,000 I per annum speedily absorbed, wages moderate-— in other words,, Australia's great want, cheap agricultural labour.