SHEEP RETURNS.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 August 1918, Page 6

SHEEP RETURNS.

FLOORS INCREASED BY OVER & IfILLION. - * INCREASING WEH JUT OF FLEECE. Stated Sir James Wilson, at the annual conference of the Fanners' Union, at Wellington, on Tuesday:— Our sheep have increased by over a million, much to the astonishment, I daro say, of those who wanted to interfere with the killing of ewe lambs; but it is not altogether clear whether or no this is not due to the fact that we have not killed as many as the previous year, and it is again complicated by the fact that ovr stores are nearly full. We exported only (513,000 fewer carcases this

year than last, vet. we have many more carcases in store than we had at this time last year. Wo are, however, 2/215,559 .carcases short of tho year before. The main fact, however, remains that we have increased our flocks by over a million, and it is significant that the increase is nearly all iu the South I Island.

In the North Island, sheep have given war to a much greater extent to dairy stock than iu the South, and, had it not been for the great strides dairying has made in the last two decades, the total number of sheep would have been getting near to 40,000,000. Perhaps I may be permitted to again state that it i 3 to science and invention that our great industries have been able to bo vastly increase the exports- In the same way it hae made this greatest and we hope' the last, of wars possible, for we have been abie to feed the Army with food grown at the uttermost ends of the earth. Mr Eraser, in liU statistics, has been making some comparisons a s to the number of sheep and the weight of wool in the various counties. He was srood enough to supply me with some figures showing the weight of fleece per district according to the information he had at hand. It may be rough, but it gives a fair indication of tho relative output of the various counties and land districts: —

! lb. Auckland v.... 6.72 Hawkes Bay ......... 8.»!) Taranaki «.88 Wellington 8.14 Nelson ...... sfil Marlborough ,»•■.-... 7.21 Westland ........... 5.7 Canterbury »., .-..-*.* 7.2 Ota<ro Southland c .. 6-29

Dominion v 5.... 7.58 There are, of course, many factors governing weight per fleece. The difference between the various breeds would account for many .pounds. The climate, altitude, season, and so on- Yet thero is a scope hert for "well-directed labor." If you look into the history of the merino in Australia, you will see what skill and observation have done for that breed. I have seen some of the original Camden flock, little, weak-necked creatures, with a very light fleeco of blacktipped, fine wool. Yet their use made an enormous difference in the weight and character of the wool of the sheep that were in Australia at tihe time. They, in their turn, gave way to the Trent* and Spanish breeds, some of which came from the King's flock which had been established in England but was afterwards abandoned. To-day such oheep as the celebrated ''Donald Dinnie," ■bred by Mr. Miller (who I knew in my young davs), are as unlike the old Camden 'breed a s a thoroughbred horse is from the veriest scrubber. In our own day we have seen the immense improvement in our Lincoln, Romno.ys, and other breeds of sheep. Still, there is possible improvement in increasing the average weight of fleece) and a pound weight per fleece would mean not much less than a million sterling. At the present time 25 per cent, of the value of every pound of wool is going into the coffers of the Government as revenue, and a good deal of the balance in buying war bonds. There arc many other ways of increasing our output, and that is the only means wo have of paying interest upon our huge loans borrowed to defend the Empire and free humanity from the thraldom of the savage.