COLONIAL PEOGEESS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 245, 14 October 1881, Page 1

COLONIAL PEOGEESS.

We quote : the following from a leading article in the London Standard : — The announcement that has just been made in vhe Government Gazette that there are sevsral persons in New Zealand each of whom ' owns over three hundred thousand sheep is so remarkable, that one's .firs.t; impression ia to consider the. statement; anexag'geration^ There was na : regular colonisation in .tbteso regions until J839, their : eniire area is less than that of Great Britain* while the human population of the country doea not equal that of a firstrate city in the Old World. But three hundred thousand sheep is a. thousandth 1 of the eniire number cropping the three kingdoms, and about a thirtieth of all that nibble the fat pastures of Holland. There need, however, be little hesitation about accepting the facts, since they were stated, as we have said, on the authority of the Government Gazette, and, we presume! from information supplied by squatters themselves, a class of gentlemen no*; apt to exaggerate their wealth, lesfc.th< authorities might levy taxes upon it. Among the "cheep kings" ot Australasia are Mr Campbell, . who. shears three hundred and eighty-six thousand fleeces; a Land Company which amongst other possessions, reckons three hundred thousand ; and Mr Allan M'Lean, who, claims fee simple in half a million of sheep. A Dumfriesshire hill farmer who can fold, a couple of thousand ewes, " glimmers " and rams, is justly considered a man of substance. But under the Southern Cross he would scarcely deserve notice and compared with squatters pi 1 ,the' wealth oi the Campbells and M'Leans, smaller people who manage to rub along wi*V flocks of sixty, seventy, eighty and ninety thousand are. con-sidered-mere retail dealers^ and it must be remembered, that these statistics— astounding though they may be to the British householder who \ has just paid bis butcher's bill, and to the British farmer, who does not quite sea how he is to make both ends meet— relate solely to New Zealand. In the throe islands of .that colony there are over twelve million sheep, and in Tasmania and Australia proper it is estimated that, exclusive of other stock, there are over sixty-one million fleeces to be clipped every year. In other words, our colonists at the. Antipodes, who, less than a century ago, owned only twenty-nine sheep, and were often hard pressed for a dinner, are n,ow the proprietors of twicb as maDy sheep as there are in the whote of the British Islands. Even these: abundant flocks do not constitute the sole wealth of the three millions ot colonists, since, apart from lands, anjd houses, and gold, th^ir official statistics record with pride that last yesir Australasia contained within its bounds over seven million cattle, eight hundred and fifteen thousand pigs, » and over a million :horees. TbJe "rabbit qu tfttion" has indeed become a serious

one in Australia. Compared with the |. debates regarding the most efficient mode of exterminating it, Mr. Berry and his Constitutional reforms attract little attention. In the -Victorian Legislature the rabbit war was recently voted " urgent" and the Colonial Parliament, in spite of every effort devoted to this philoprogenitive, beastare already brought by it nearly to their wit's end. Introduced only a few years: ago, it has multiplied sp enormously that, aided by the kangaroo and the dingo, it has made whole tracts almost useless. In Otago and South^land extensive ranges of good soil have b:^ :3n brought to barrennes^ owing ,fco its insatiable appetite for nibbling above -and bumming below. ' On one run twenty-nine thousand were killed in fpur montha, and on twenty-four other estates over a million were elain in a single year. Still, in spite of these crooks in his lot, the Australian squatter has, on the whole, an enviable prospect compared with his cousin at home. Tinned meats and cold storeage are opening up from him a vista of wealth " beyond the dreams of avarice/ and if an aggressive Democracy cuts up his runs by "free selection," the Contiaent is broad, and every fresh explorer reports the discovery of tracts unfitted for the farmer, but sufficiently good for the grazier., Sheep do not often now-a-days go seeking buyers at halt'-a--crown a-bead. 'Boiling down" is year by year less resorted to. Land is not in these times manured with gravy soup, and though mutton, is cheap enough, the Melbourne householder only knows by tradition of an era when prime joints were sold at' five shillings the dozen, aad poor people could have chops for the asking.