THE SHEEP RETURNS

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 9, 11 September 1913, Page 4

THE SHEEP RETURNS

Referring editorially to the matter the Christchurch “Press” says: It is high time the whole question of taking the annual sheep returns was reviewed. Not only are the returns

taken at the wrong time of. the year, I but more expedition is required iii| getting out the results. It took two. and a half months this year to get out] the interim return, when a shortage! of. 89,000 was-shown. Now, to every sheep-owner’s surprise, it appears that the figures then published were wrong by over half a million. Instead of there being a decrease of 89,000 there is now shown to be an increase of 1(1,657. There is no doubt that the mistake lias caused a large number ol farmers lately to pay higher prices for sheep then they would have done had it been known that there was a large surplus instead of a decrease in the sheep stocks of the Dominion, if the discrepancy occurred through a number of owners not having sent in their returns, a comparison with the returns of last j ear should have given an idea how many more sheep were to lie accounted for, and, at any rate, the interim return should have stated that there were still a number of returns to come in. We could scarcely understand, in the face of the splendid lambing of last year, and the decrease in the shipment of ewe mutton, why there should have been a shortage in this year’s returns, and the results now made public clear up the position. Efforts have been made for some years past by South Island sheep-owners to have the date of taking the returns altered to an earlier period of the year. At present the returns, even when they are approximately correct, are of little practical value. If the returns could be made public during the export season, there would be a better prospect of getting shortages made good by the premium that would be placed upon ewes and ewe lambs, and their export would therefore be more restricted during 'the remainder of the slaughtering season.