WOOL! WOOL!!

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 41, 6 January 1894, Page 9

WOOL! WOOL!!

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —This is the chief topic of interest among our farming friends just now. It is gradually assuming greater proportions as the country gets more settled. When inAmerica I examined some wool samples while travelling across the Continent on my long and weary 4000 miles ride. Of course half that time I was travelling through the night, but the strange part of it was that I never saw one single sheep feeding, or one flock in all that time. Not that they were not there, for in some of the States they grow them, but not in any quantity, as I was informed that the extremes of climate are too great for sheep ; and perhaps it will hardly be credited when I say that for fully 500 miles the land would not keep a sheep to the square mile. We boast of our land carrying from one to three sheep to the acre, but I wonder what we would think of that. The land was barren, sandy, and red-looking, with a shoi’t, stunted alkaline scrub every six or eight feet, and between as bare as the palm of your hand. The train would make runs of 80, 100 and 120 miles without a stop, and not a sign of water to be seen, unless you caught a glimpse of a river sunk down between high banks, hundreds of feet below. You never knew until you were right over these rivers, and you shuddered as you rushed over those spidery trestle bridges the scenes of many of the accidents on the American railways. It —the river—does not leave a green streak to show where it is running as in many countries, but simply rushes off on its way to the sea, leaving scarce a shadow behind. This is the kind of country that I passed through, so it can well be seen from this description that the climate and soil are not suited for growing sheep. It would be impossible to keep them without housing, as many of the parts I have mentioned would be covered duringthe depth of winter with 20ft of snow. I inspected at the railway stations several samples of wool, which was nearly as coarse as dogs’ hair. It was covered with sand, and I was told that it has to be shorn twice a year. I pity the shearers. I conversed with several prominent business men, who are of the opinion that Congress, now that it has the vexed silver question settled, will set to work at its first session and take the duty off wool. They argue that wool is a raw product, and that it cannot be grown in sufficient quantities to supply the 80,000,000 Americans who must have woollen clothes as a necessity. Should it become law, as is confidently expected, it will have the effect of opening up a market for our wool that, with a reciprocity tariff between the two countries, would simply make New Zealand. The possibilities of the future in this respect are great.—Yours, etc., W. H. Mathieson.