CARTERTON RAM FAIR.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 91, 22 February 1879, Page 2

CARTERTON RAM FAIR.

Carterton appears to be doomed to have inclement weather for its shows. The weather looked bad all the morning on the 20th, but kept fine until about nine or ten o'clock, when the people were expected to be showing'up, when the rain camo down pretty heavily, and continued so till 12 o'clock, when it improved, Howover, it did not prevent a gi eat number of persons from attending, although it may have presented a few curious ones; but all those who meant business, either to buy, or those who were interested in the sale of rains, wero not to be daunted by a few showers, and at 12 o'clock sharp the sales commenced, Mr lorns, of the firm of lorns & Fergusson, opening the ball, . They having the largest list were appointed to lead oft', which tho auctioneer did by submitting a draft of Mr Buchanan's Lincolus, comprising some of their own breeding, and some being the progeny of Messrs Beetham, the Australian and New Zealand Land Company, and some from the celebrated Sutton rams, and succeeded in selling tho whole lot in pens of fivo each, 35 in all, at prices ranging from LI 10s toL3 10s, which was thought very low, taking into consideration tho youth of the sheep and their good strains of blood, At one o'clock the auctioneer, at the request of Mr Boys, intimated there would be a short adjournment for lunch, which the indefatigable committee and secretary had provided in tho. shed hard by. During the adjournment Mr Girdlestono sold a pen of five Lincoln rams on account of Messrs .McMaster, their prices ranging from 35s to 3fa Cd each. After all had partaken of lunch, which was very acceptable, and was also a very wise provision on the part of tho Society to provide iuiicli on the grounds, thereby keeping the public about, and- not allowing them to disperse themselves about the town in search of refreshment, at one o'clock sharp Mr lorns resumed the sale by offering some pens of Lincolns, bred by Messrs Beetham, of Brancepeth,' The first lot offered were ewes, and they wero withdrawn at 19s; next came the rams, about fifty being penned, of these only 30 were sold, in lots of five each, varying in prices from £2 to £3 12s Gd, and even those figures were considered very low, as the reputation of tho Brancepeth sheep has never been disputed; however, wc trust that at the next Fair wc shall bo able to quote better price 3, The next in order were a beautiful lot of young Romney Marsh rams, bred by and on account of C, Pharazyn, Esq. ; only three lots of these were placed, and at prices varying from 32s Gd to £3 10s, the balance being wisely withdrawn. Several small lots were sold, fetching fair prices, amongst them being one splendid Lincoln ram from very swell progenitors, which brought £G from a Whareama settler. For the lots sold the buyers were found principally from tho Masterton and Whareama districts, The next and last line of the auctioneer was a lot of two-tooth Cotswolds, 55 in all; they were bred by Mr D. Canning, of Oakburn, Napier; these were some of the same draft that were subby lorns & Fergusson at Tenui. They were offered, and after a little keen competition were knocked down to Mr W. McLarren, who elected to take the lot of 55 at £3 per head, and was rewarded for his pluck, by selling directly after some lots from them privately, at a good advance. This is tho lowest figure wc have known Mr Canning's rams go for, but some account for it by saying that they were not as good a sample as he sent hitherto; this concluded the firms sale, they putting through in all upwards of £3OO worth Mr Armstrong, of Carterton, now ascended the rostrum, and commenced by selling some splendid ram lambs, on account of Mr John Smith, which brought a capital figure, viz., £3 each. The Lincolns were mostly withdrawn, most parties by this time being supplied, in fact the day was already far advanced, and tho crowd becoming smaller. On the wholo we think the Fair is to a great extent successful especially as this is the first attempt. No doubt when buyers find that it is intended to be a genuine affair, tliey will mako a point of attending to make their purchases, instead of having to run all over the country to select rams; besides they will have so much more choice at the Fair, and will be enabled to procure them at a fair figuro. We must also make an allowance for this season, as a good many until very lately were in ignorance of tho intended fair, and made their selection some time back, which will no doubt be remedied by next seasons Fair, Of course many of the rams exhibited were disposed of privately. Mr Tancred, we believe, sold somo. Cotswold rams at LlO per head, one or two of which were afterwards re-sold at Lls; and Mr Colemau Phillips, of the Dry Eiver Station, bought four pure-bred Romney Marsh rams of Mr Arthur Braithwaite (who purchased direct from Mr Ludlam's wellknown flock), at L 5 per head.