SHEEP FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 626, 14 April 1852, Page 3

SHEEP FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND.

[From the Wellington Indppendent.] We noticed in our last that Mr. Weld had published a small pamphlet on sheep farming in New Zealand. It had excited considerable attention amonjf the friends of the colony at home, particularly the members of the Canterbury Association. The appearance of this work could not have been more opportune, and will no doubt be instrumental in conjunction with the expressed wishes of the colonists, supported as they will be by the despatches of the Governor-tn-Chief, and by the advocacy, on the spot, of Mr. Fox, and Mr Weld himself, in determining the Home Government to adopt measures having for their object the abrogation of the late Act of Parliament, at least so far as the " Terms of Purchase," and the Squatting Regulations of the Company are. concerned, and the enforcement of the recenUJules and Regulations for Depasturing Cattle outside Hundreds, on the Waste Lands of the Crown, promulgated by Sir G. Grey. That is supposing the Imperial Legislature does not meet the expressed wishes of the colonists, by placing the waste lands and the internal affairs of the colony under the management of its own Representative Government. Mr. Weld observes that the Government have, by the dissolution of the New Zealand Company, everything in their own hands, and consequently not even a shadow of excuse can remain if they should any longer delay in establishing a systematic tenure of waste lands. With respect to the amount of capital and number of stock required for a sheep station, Mr. Weld is of opinion that from £1000 to £1500 is required to make a good beginning, and from 800 to 10U0 breeding ewes would be necessary to commence a self-sup-porting station ; but that double that sum would be the most favourable amount that could be invested in the formation of a sheep station for a good run, as 2000 sheep could be kept for almost as little expense as 1000. He does not assert that a man cannot commence sheep farming with a less capital than that; but that £1000, or somewhat less, was the amount of capital with which a man might count upon establishing a sheep station upon a secure and self-supporting_ footing; and that if a man brought his own experience and labour with him his expenses would be materially reduced. He says that sheep farming is not beset with that mystery which envelops the science in England, and that therefore a very short apprenticeship will suffice to teach the rudiments of the art. The intending sheep farmer, who possesses the requisite qualifications, energy, and a common degree of prudence, and if also he should have the good fortune to secure a few trustworthy rather than many and inditterent servants, Mr. Weld thinks he may promise him success; not perhaps a fortune, but a competent and selfearned independence. "As years pass by, he will reflect with pleasure upon the hardships and privations, such as they may have been, of his early struggles. He will look upon the neat garden, the orchards, the snug homestead, and recal the time when the site <vas a bare and desolate wilderness. He will look round upon the ilocks spreading over the hill-side, the cattle standing in the cooling stream, the graceful herd of horses on the plain, and will feel the honest pride of having won himself an independence by his own exertions." THre can be no doubt, we think, that sheep farming, while it will confer on the colony one of the most valuable of exports will also prove to individuals, possessing the requisite capital and qualifications, one of the most profitable pursuits; as New Zealand is admitted by every one capable of judging to possess more than any of the Southern colonies the greatest natural advantages for the growth of wool. The great profits, when compared with the little risk and expense, which sheep farming holds out in the long run to individuals engaging in this pursuit, have caused a few active and enterprising persons to suggest the propriety of immediately forming a sheep investment company, in order to enable persons of small means to obtain a share of those advantages which are now necessarily only enjoyed by the large capitalist, and which it is fully anticipated the investment of a 6mall sum in the purchase of a share or shares in the company would eventually confer upon them. This idea of a sheep investment company is a good one, and if carried out in a spirited manner, under judicious regulations and efficient superintendence, will, we think, meet with abundant support.