WOOL GROWING COUNTIES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 207, 23 October 1880, Page 4

WOOL GROWING COUNTIES.

[Oiago Wicness."] Tn onft of n ?encg nf lectures deJivprfd by Mr TRVrrnnn f^rbrnM*:, under the Pii-pif pp nf the. Qsjppv.BJarx? National {?;q fo'inwfnct fflcfa were qnnfpci from a pamphlet on the production f?i)fl resumption of wool by r v Mr Sauerbeck :-— Tfipi woollen imiuatvy may bft paid to work no «t prpspnt (hpgides ehorMy nnd tnunffo). about three nnd a-hnlf fimns f»s rcuoh wool fiB nf. (he b ginning of thin century. England imposed in the first bnlf nf flu's century only bpr octuftl requirement, bnt during tbo last thirfy ycprs thp. hns bpcotne tbo interxj»fionnl market for nil countries, the export* of foreign, colonial, and homegrown wnnls linvjns laefc yenr amounted to 197 000 000' he. Thn rnmbpr of pli^ep in (he TJnlfed "K'w&Aom is f^i'l to h»vQ hppn tw^vp mi'lJons in 1698, 1f1.0D.000 in 1741, 26.000,000 in 1800, 32.000,000 in 1833 ; nvM it is now returned as thirtytwo i^ilHooß. The prnduoMnn, which in 1800 hßd been pefironfe*! n* ninetysix million lbs, end in 1827 nf. ore hnndrprl nncl eleven million lbs>, is now 152 000,000. This would indicate o prpst incrpflso of the avernge clip wpigfct, if the former figures ere r?ght, ' In Rupsia in Europe the numbftr of phppp ?fl fivpn 83. follows : — ln 1870 48 131.700; 1863, 43,915,000 ; 1853, 42 850.000 : »mongflt these there ere about 11,000 000 merino sheep, (he remainder bringing to different coareewoolled brepdg. The fo(sl product may be estimated at 130,000,0001 be, which phowsthat sheep in that country have not increased at a very great rate. Sweden and Norway. — The number of sheep has varied with the value of the wool in these countries. The num. b«r of sheep hoa remained under two millions ; in Iceland under 500,000. It may therefore be considered stationary. In Germany there were about 25,000.000 sheep in 1861, and twentynine millions in 1867. Since then there has been c considerable decrease, as will hp SP.OTI from thp following ;. — In 1873 24 999 406 ; 1867, 28,970,607 ; 1864,26,000 000. , The Austrian Emp'rp in 1860 was reported to possess 30 000,000 sheep, but hod in 1871 only 20,103,395 ; but there -has been a further decrease lately, nnd the present number is hardly morp thnr 18,000,000, producing about 50 OOO.OOOihs of wool. Spain ccuoted in 1865,22 054 967 fihppp, produciog 60,000 OOOibs to 66,000,0001b5,'b0t it is doubtful whether this number is i till in exiptance. Poi'ogal hfid 2,417,049 sheep in 1866, and 2,706,777 in 1870. British Nonh Ampricaba'l 2,532.799 in 1861, find 3,337.763 in 1671 In the United States, the number of sheep was returned in 1840 as 17,000,000 in 1860 as 23,500,000, and in 1875 as 33 783,688, but it has been pointed out by authorities that the official estimates are incorrect. Particulars of the production during the last twelve years, according to Mr. James Lynch, of New York, shows that, although the production of wool has increased since 1866 from 137.000.0001bs to 208,250,C001bs in 1877, the production in those parts that may now be termed old countries, has, as in Europe, decreased since 8 j S, and may now be considered as

as stationary. In the new and young count riei in the West, however, the production hns received an addition year by year, and -there is no doubt that those parts are capable of extending <heir produeiion considerably. On the "River Plate, the merino sheep was introduced in 1823, made good progress, and the production has reached enormous dimensions. The exports from Buenos Ayres (the principal port) were:— lß32, 944 bales;. IS6O, 38,482; 1864, 129.049 ; 1870, 155,221; 1877. 232,703. The number of sheep w«s generally estimated by the Bural Society of Buenos Ayres at the rate of seven sheep per arroba of 251ba, which, for last year's production of 24,8000,000 lbs, would give 6H million sheep, and. for 1875 about 58 million But this estimate appears to be too low, and by a well-informed critic vc has been pointed out there are on the average ten sheep shorn per arroba. Three other estimates make the number seven and a half, eight, and eight and a half; and taking the latter figure, which forms the average between the lowest nnd highest estimate, and adding a certain number for full and threequarter woolled sheepskins, we obtain : -1877, 91.000,000; 1867, 66,000,000; 1860, 16,500,000 sheep. This is the largest number of sheep in any country of the world, but the average clip weight is only lib of clean wooljagainst about 2lbs in most countries. Central America and Mexico produce not more than about 1,500 OOOlbs of wool, and contain perhaps 500,000 sheep. "West Coast of South America exported last year 9,500,0001bs of wool from about 4,000,000 sheep. The Cape.— There is only a small number of the original coarse woolled Cape sheep left, the remainder being merinos which were introduced in 1833. According to official returns the number of sheep was— lßs3, 5.004,595; 1875, 11,279,743 ; but these figures do not include Free Caffraria, Orange Eree State, and the Transvaal; the total number of sheep at the Cape is probably 16,000,000. The production of wool increased from 70,231 bales in 1860 to 180,670 in 1877. AUSTRALIAN" WOOL PRODUCTION. — NUMBER or sheep. IB6o.— Queensland, 2 450,000; New South Wales, 5,162,671 ; Victoria, 5,704,127 ; South Australia, 2,600,000; Tasmania, 1,697,199 ; Western Australia, 234,815; New Zealand, 2,400,000; Total in Australasia, 20,336,812. 1865 - Queensland, 5,665 334 ; New South Wales, 8,271,520; Victoria, 8,406 234 ; South Australia, 4 106,230; Tasmania, 1,736,540; Western Australia, 383,878; New Zealand, 5,700,000 Total in Australasia, 34.269,736. 1870.— Queensland, 8,046,243 ; New South Wales, 14,980,923; Victoria, 9 926,663; South Anstralia, 4,436,956 ; Tasmania, 1,531,187; Western Aus tralia, 648,683 ; New Zealand 9,500,000. Total in Australasia, 49,676,654. 1875.— Queensland, 7,180,792; New South Wales, 22,872,882; Victoria, ■11,221,036 ; South Australia, 6,120,211; Tasmania, 1,714,168 ; Western Australia, 777,861 ; New Zealand, 12,500,000. Total ia Australasia, 62,386,050. 1877 .—Que.enslana, 7,315,074; New South Waies, 24,503 388; Victoria. 11,278,893; South Au5tra1ia ,6,133,291 ; Tasmania, 1*768,785; Western Aus--tralia, 899,494 ; New Zealand, 14,300,000. Total in Australasia, 66,108,925.