PEDIGREE SHEEP FOR CHINESE PASTURES

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5328, 14 February 1947, Page 3

PEDIGREE SHEEP FOR CHINESE PASTURES

1 N.Z. GIFT OF GRAZIERS TO REWI ALLEY. i Fifty pedigree Corriedales are be- i ing loaded at Lyttelton this week on j to the U.N.R.R.A. stock ship Linden- ; wood Victory in addition to the thou- j sand stud sheep which are travelling J as part of the New Zealand Govern- j ment's contribution to Chinese rehabilitation. These 50 Corriedales have ben^ given !>y South Island breeders to Rewi Alley, the New Zealand leader of the Chinese co-operative move- j ment, in order to improve the wool j yield in his distriet, which is at present frequently as low as one or two pounds per sheep. They are intended to replace a flock of 150 which was actuplly en route in 1941 when the opening of the general Paeific war forced it to.be landed in- i stead at Calcutta. However, although Alley's Chinese shepherds found the fiock and attempted to drive it north aeross the HimalajTas, they had after two years to give up the nttempt in the middle of Tibet. 9 I The present flock is travelling under the care of qualified sheepmen from the New Zealand Department of Agri- | culiture as far as Shanghai. After ' Shanghai, however, lie the hazards of a 2000-mile overland journey by river, i road and track through dangeroas an'd j unsettled country. To avoid this it is \ pi'oposed ko fly the sheep direct to Kansu. If this werp dene, a mere eignt-hour air journey would 'land t them in their ovvn grazing field besivle the temple which is Alley's headquarters. The cost of this air transport was j quoted a tew months ago as 19,000, OC'O j Chinese dollars. In New Zealand cur- j rency, however, this frightening sum | reduces to approximately £1500. I Judging by the many offers of help | which Alley received when the news | of his lormer loss reaehed New.Zea- 1 land, he is confident tliat it will be j subseribed by New Zealand people, | and particularly by farmers who did j not have an actual stud sheep to give. j C.O.R.S.O., which has already a spe- | cial account for Chinese Industrial | Co-operatives, has -undertaken to act S as receiving agent for the Rewi Alley j Sheep Fund, Box 11, Government | Buildings Post Office, Wellington. j