FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 October 1917, Page 3

FARM AND DAIRY.

WORLD'S MEAT SUPPLIES, In tlio annual report (if the Colonial Consignments and Distributing Company (London) for lfllli, it is stated: —"It wag Isi great disaster for this country that tiie effects of the Australian drought should have been felt at a time when there was the greatest need for Australian supplies, and it is hardly too much to say that the decline from i2G;OGO tons in 1915 to 51,300 tons in 1910 in the importation from Australia represents entirely meat which would have been available for civil consumption. A normal beef supply from Australia would have released the meat requisitioned in its stead for the army, while little Australian mutton and no Australian lamb has been required for that purpose. Live stock in the countries now furnishing meat to Britain and her Allies are as follows: Cattle. Sheep. Argentine .. .. 30,000,000 80,O»0;OO0 Australia .. .. 9,924,000 09,705,000 New Zealand ..■ 2,329,000 24,788,000 Brazil 30,705,000 10,653,000 Canada .., .., 0,430,000 1,905,000 South Africa .. 8,000,000 34,000,000 Uruguay .. .. 8,193,000 2tf;286,000 Madagascar ..■ 0,878,000 Venezuela 2,004,000 177,000 United States .. 01,441,000 48,163,000 "The position in France has made the dependence on frozen meat a vital question. More than a year ago it was officially estimated that the cattle and sheep in the territory unoccupied by the enemy had decreased by 17 per cent, an,d the total decrease for the whole country must considerably exceed this figure. Great activity has been directed to the erection of refrigerated stores, and it may be confidently anticipated that the French market is at last permanently opened. Xo official information regarding the herds in Italy ha? been forthcoming since 190S, when the total was 0,200,000. The fact that 53,000 quarters of beef were despatched to Italy from Argentine alone is evidence of the requirements of that country. The accommodation provided in various towns also points to the likelihood of the permanence of the trade. The depletion of the herds in Belgium,is understood to have been very severe, and whatever the economic conditions of this country may be when her independence is restored, a'certain quantity of imported meat will undoubtedly be one of her prime necessities. In this case also a regular trade should follow when urgency has broken down prejudice.

"Outside the allied countries, however, which will be quite sufficient to absorb the present output of the producing countries, the conditions throughout the whole of Europe must be considerably .modified by the devastation of the war. 'The trade may well be indifferent to the demands of Germany, but her needs must have an influence on tli Continental markets. The reductions in the herds of Australia, Hungary, Serbia and Roumania must be a serious factor in the situation in Eastern Europe, while the enormous herds of European Russia appear to have been almost stationary for some years, and are unlikely to replace the deficiency in the countries mentioned. The war, therefore, tends to emphasise the prospects which existed before the war, that European countries will be serious competitors with the United Kingdom for overseas supplies. So long as the war continues no market forecast is of any value, but it is already easy to discern that the influence of the war upon the frozen meat trade will not cease on the restoration of peace. The narrow margin between supply and demand, which was beginning to be apparent three years ago, will be accentuated by the ravages of war, and the competition of Continental and possibly 'North American markets, will prevent a reversion to the level of prices which were regarded as normal before the war."

TASMANIAN MERINOS. Some interesting returns of a Tasmanian pure Merino flock have been published in the island State papers. Messrs. Burbury Bros., of the Oatlands district, report thai) their flocks of 11,000 head averaged 101b wool per head, or 330 bales in all. Under appraisement, 20 bales super made 27 l-4d per lb and 70 bales first combing 25Jd. No Tasmanian Merino clip ran out at a better average, and the'brokers Remarked on the great length of staple. For the flock is claimed two records for Tasmania. In February, 1910, 1000 Merino ewes of mixed aged were sold at 30s per head; and in December, 1910, 1000 wethers cast for age, made 35s per head. From 750 stud sheep and 250 ration sheep were cut 13,0001b wool in October. There were sold 1035 Merino wethers in the wool at 355, and the purchasers of 150 wethers in one draft made 17s fld per head for wool, PAYING WAR DEBTS. Several schemes for paying the Empire's war debt have been suggested, says the Pastoral Review, but the only one so far developed in any detail is what is called tlie "Empire Farm." Briefly, those who are proposing this means of paying the war debt propose to develop the agricultural resources of the Dominions for the ultimate benefit of the State. As, applied to Western Canada, the scheme would entail the development of vast areas of virgin land, the production of crops thereon, and the selling finally of the improved land at an enhanced price. per acre. The difference between the value of the land at the start and the price paid for it after development, the profit so to speak, would, it is estimated, pay off all the debt incurred by Britain •in this ww, if not her entire national debt. A memorandum has been laid before the committee of prominent men who have been looking into the matter, which states that there are possibilities of the rapid development of the tropical and sub-tropical portions of the Empire and of its fisheries. In all these cases there is nothing to prevent a board of I development getting to work at. once for revenue purposes on raw material of endI less quantity and quality. But with tho goodwill of' Canada, a scheme could be undertaken which would add infinitely to the wealth and prosperity of that Dominion, and would provide the Empire's food from the ' "Empire's Farm." The memorandum suggests that an Imperial Development Board should arrange with the Dominion of Canada for the purchase of some 200.000,000 acres of arable land in great blocks in Alberta, Saskatchewan Manitoba, and British Columbia, for, say, £40.000,000 paid by Britain at the rate of £10,000,000 a year, and on condition that the Dominion Government spends 1 the whole of that* capital in the imraeI diate development of her great and ferI tile north land. It is believed that tlie I value of those great lands in such an : Empire farm would speedily reach .t2's ; an acre, or. hi all, the Empire would receive in c:vsh i:4 : 0fl0,000,000, tlie value of tu debt for war or ora-war.