NEW ZEALAND FLOCKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 July 1938, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND FLOCKS

NEW RECORD LEVEL REACHED LAST SEASON. / STEADY INCREASE SINCE 1933. A new record level for the flocks of the Dominion is shown in the interim return just gazetted" of sheep in New Zealand at April 30. There has been a steady increase since 1933. The! 30,000,000 mark was first passed in 1930. Following that year there was a considerable decrease as the result of depressed wool prices, but since the recovery began the growth in numbers has been marked. Fluctuations during the past five years are shown in the following table: — North Island. South Island. Total 1934 .. 15,264,588 13,384,450 28,649,038 1935 .. 15,749,016 13,327,738 29,076,754 1936 .. 16,371,844 13,741,860 30,113,704 1937 .. 17,065,135 14,240,683 31,305,818 1938 .. 17,645,528 14,751,332 32,396,860 An even more impresive record of growth is revealed if the position over the past 60 years is considered. The development of sheep-farming during that period occurred side by side with the growth, from modest beginning, of the dairying industry, the two together being a marvellous testimony to the importance of grassland farming in New Zealand. The strength of the flocks at 10-year intervals since 1888 has been as follows: — 1888 15,042,198 1898 19,673,725 1908 .< 22,449,053 1918 26,538,302 1928 27,133,810 1938 32,396,850 Since 1888, when the export of frozen meat was in its infancy, New Zealand has developed into .the greatest overseas supplier of mutton and lamb to the British market. Fifty years ago, the wool cheque was £3,115,000; in the 1936-37 season it amounted to £14,900,000. In 1888 the export of frozen meat yielded £628,800. Last season it was valued at £13,450,000, lamb and mutton representing by far the greatest quota of it. These figures indicate what New Zealand’s flocks have meant to the national economy.