CANTERBURY BUDGET.

Otago Witness, Issue 4029, 2 June 1931, Page 14

CANTERBURY BUDGET.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) FRUIT EXPORT. CHRISTCHURCH, May 30. A record fruit season closed in Canterbury this week, with the .sailing of the Zealandic from Lyttelton with over 7000 cases of apples consigned to the London market. The final returns show that the total number of cases shipped overseas was 29,185, which exceeds by over 21,000 cases the previous record of 8000 cases set in 1929. The bulk of the fruit shipped this season has been apples, chiefly of the Sturmer, Jonathan, and Delicious varieties, only 553 cases of pears having been exported. The apples were graded into three qualities, there being 19,215 cases of “ extra fancy,” 8586 cases of “ fancy,” and 831 of “ good.” The pears •were all graded as “ fancy.” The details of the different varieties of fruit shipped are as follow:— Apples—Adams Pearmain, 1245 cases; Ballarat 50, Boston Russet 68, Cox Orange Pippin 1058, Delicious 3401, Dunns 1017, Glengyle Red 343, Jonathan 6299, King David 28, London Pippin 42, Lord Wolseley 819, Newton Pippin 565, Pioneer 480, Ribston Pippin 34, Rokewood 1264, Rome Beauty . 137, Scarlet Nonpareil 89, Statesman'9l9, Sturmer 9505, Tasma 685, Worcester Pearmain 584; total, 28,632 cases. Pears —Easter Buerre 109 eases, Glou Morceau 341, L’lneonnue 50, P. Barry 53; total, 553 cases. Grand total, 29,185 cases.

ADDINGTON MARKET. With the fairly heavy entries that were penned in both the fat lamb and fat sheep sections at Addington this week, there would be many fanners who would benefit by the gratifying, though not altogether unexpected, rise in the export schedule, which meant an aditional Is a head and over to them. The improvement. in lamb prices, on paper, amounted to Id a.Jb,-.bringing the price for weights up to 421 b to s:,'d. Actually, however, it represents- a little more than this, as there were many cases where' up to 6d a lb was'paid. Mutton prices advanced by ■Id —the .first increase this season—both for ewes and wethers) making the new rates for ewes. 2 1-Sd for weights up to 4S'b. .with corresponding reductions for h avier weights down to I 5-8 d for over 72's and gecond. The schedule for the

481 b wethers was 3Jd, down to 2-Jd for seconds.

Wednesday’s offering of lambs totalled just short of 4000, a little fewer than at the previous sale, and among the better class lambs there were some exceptionally well finished sorts. In fact, there was little wrong with the whole entry from a quality point of view, the' proportion of light and partly-fattened lambs being very small. The best price of the day was 26s 7d, a figure that has not been recorded at Addington tihs season since the early drafts of lambs were sent away before Christmas. It was paid for a pen of three big crossbred lambs sold on account of Mr H. C. Barker (Geraldine). They had been prize-winners at the recent Winchester Show, and they looked it. One of the finest lines in the yards was that penned by Mr J. J. Allan (Dunsandel). There were 64 in it, and they made from 20s 7d to 24s 4d, these figures working out at the excellent average of 22s 3d. There were several other sales over 20s, a price that was looked upon as something out of the ordinary not so very many weeks ago. There was some hesitancy about the fat sheep market at the start of the sale, but it quickly disappeared, and practically the whole entry of just over 6000 sheep was disposed of in the face of a keen demand from the freezing works buyers and the butchers. It was, in fact, as good a sale as any this season. Quality here also was fairly even, particularly among the ewes, which were in much heavier supply than wethers; Just how even quality was is indicated by the fact that over three-quarters of the offering made over 10s, which was about the ruling figure for a medium class sheep. The market for all grades was firm, though the lighter weights, which sold extremely well at the previous sale, did not show such a pronounced appreciation as. the rest. Butchers and export buyers were keen purchasers of this grade of mutton.

- Despite the fact that there was another heavy offering of close on 450 head, values in beef . showed little change, due probably to the bigger and better yarding of steer beef and also to the fact that the intervention of the King’s Birthdaynext week—the sale will be held on the Tuesday—will interfere with the killing arrangements. Anyway, .the butchers were fairly free buyers throughout the sale, particularly for anything in the way of prime medium-weight beef. For this and other choice lines of beef the price per 1001 b was from 30s to 32s 6d, with quite a lot of cattle selling at from about 25s and upward. The best of the cow beef was worth about 225, with the rough grade bringing as low as Ils. An interesting feature of the yarding was the inclusion of the first line of North Island beef this winter. They were black polled steers that had come through the sea journey well, and they penned up in attractive condition. Butchers held off for them, and they met with a keen sale, the line of 34 averaging £l4 13s 6d a head. While this figure should show quite a profitable return to the owner, even after deducting shipping and other expenses totalling £3 10s a head, it appeared a little on the dear side when compared with the prices some of the better lines of local cattle made. It is understood that there are still well over 100 head of cattle available from the same source. Small as it was, the selection of adult sheep in the store pens offered something quite moderately good in the way of quality, particularly among the more forward wethers and farmers’ ewes, and there was quite a buoyant demand for them at slightly dearer prices. Except for a few pens of attractive ewe lambs, there was nothing out of the way in store lamb pens. Only four or five pens reached double figures, and some of these looked a little on the dear side. The best price of the day among the ordinary straight ewe lines was 15s 2d, which was paid for a pen of 85 Corriedales from the Amberley district. They are big, wellwoolled sorts that would develop into attractive two-tooths. There were two deals at 13s, one for a line of 75 Romney cross ewe lambs, and the other for a bigger line of Romney three-quarterbreds consisting chiefly of wether lambs. The latter line was from the south, and five or six weeks on turnips would just about finish them off. At that figure they looked quite a good investment. EXPORT OF PIGS. Judging by the information received this week by the ' Canterbury Agricultural , and Pastoral Association from he. New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board in regard to the awards of London judges to whom the baeoners and porkers exhibited at the November show were submitted. Canterbury can produce the ideal type of pig if it wants to. In all cases the judges’ comment was flattering,

their opinion being that the exhibits were as good as could be wished for. In the class for porkers the exhibitors were: Canterbury Agricultural College, Lincoln, two entries; Jas. Simpson, South- i bridge, two entries; C. Morgan Williams, ' Ohoka, two entries; and J. D. Galpin, Southbridge, one entry. Judged at the show on the hoof, a pen of large WhiteBerkshire cross porkers, shown by the College, was awarded first prize; a Large White cross pen of Mr C. Morgan Williams, second; and a pen of YorkshireLarge Black cross, shown by Mr Jas. Simpson, third. When 'these pigs reached Smithfield they were judged by a panel of well-known Smithfield experts arranged for by Mr R. Forsyth, London manager for the New Zealand Meat. Producers’ Board, and the judges state in a report submitted, after carefully cutting and examining the pigs, that they were unable to separate them, and awarded all the exhibits maximum points for shape, leanness, and quality. The exhibitors in the bacon class were Canterbury Agricultural College (Large White-Berkshire cross), Mr J. D. Galpin and Mr Jas Simpson (Yorkshire-Tam-worth cross), and the Addington awards were made in that order. p London judges could not separate the first and third prize pigs, and they were awarded full points, 10 each for shape, leanness, and quality. Those shown by Mr Galpin were awarded 10 for shape, eight for leanness, and 10 for quality. The only criticism offered by the judges was that one or two of the baeoners were a trifle on the light side. Baeoners should be at least 1201 b in weight. IMPORTATION OF STOCK. According to advice received by the Mid-Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, the Government’s attitude on the question of removing the I embargo on the importation of stock from Great Britain has not yet been deter- , mined. In a letter to the branch, the Min--1 ister of Agriculture, Hon. A. J. Murdoch, stated that the branch had been misinformed on the matter, as no decision had yet been come to with respect to lifting the ban. The Board of Agriculture had passed a resolution in favour of such a step, but the Government had not considered it yet. The branch could rest assured, he said, that nothing would be done until the whole question had been considered from all points of view. Members decided to obtain an assurance from the Prime Minister that the opinions | of all farming bodies would be obtained I before anything was done.