Wool Production.

Te Aroha News, 10 March 1898, Page 2

Wool Production.

New Zealanders are so accustomed te hear of the enormous number of sheep in the Australasian colonies, beside which our modest twenty millions or so seem almost insignificant, that it will be a surprise to most people to learn that this little colony is the largest exporter of wool in the world, except Argentine. Yet this is the case, according to some statistics placed before the Christchurch Chamber of Commerce by the President last week. Our export last year was 386,875 bales. Next came„New South Wales with 376,888 bales, followed by Victoria with 303,629 bales, the Cape and Natal with 243,073 bales, and Queensland with 207,686 bales. The clips of the other colonies were so small as not to be worth noting. Yet New South Wales, despite the ravages of drought, has more than double the number of sheep, Queensland has more than we have, and Victoria is not very far behind us. The figures given were taken from Messrs Jacomb, Son and Co.’a (circular for December 31st last. They relate only to the imports of wool into England, but practically all Australasian wool goes there. A small amount is sent direct from the Australian colonies to the United States, but that is probably balanced by the much greater quantity manufactured into cloth and blankets in New Zealand than in any other colony, 4,000,0001 b being so worked up. At all events the quantity which finds its way direct to America or the Continent of Europe cannot be suffi cient to effect the broad result. Of course our position is due to the fact that our flocks are mainly longwools or crossbreds, while the Australian clip, with the exception of that of Victoria, is almost exclusively merino. We are, however, a long way behind Argentina in the weight of our clip, the production there being last year 338,400,0001 b, or just about double our total, but it was comparatively of much less value, the return in money being only £5,377,000, compared with £4,366,725 received for our smaller export.—Hawkos Bay Herald.