THE ANNUAL SHEEP RETURNS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MAY, 1883.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1749, 31 July 1884, Page 2

THE ANNUAL SHEEP RETURNS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MAY, 1883.

looial Secretary's Office, (Stook Jranch ! • , WeEington 6th June, 1884, ' Sir',—l have the honour to lay before ', ut the annual Bheep returns for the veaf'>, ding3lßtvMay,'iaa3. . '";;';. . -,"' '%: h The total -number-of sheep in'the-:, lony on that date, was 18,806,829, the eyious year being J. 2,408,106,. showing i-inorease of .898,228 in the twelve onths. Of this inorease, Canterbury id Napier contribute over 542,000; Ellington and Marlborough, 290,000; uckland, stationery, Nelson,' a slight crease, whilst for Otago, which last year towed a decrease, I am abie to report let the returns show an inorease of more ia* .42,000. f: r :•:--;:' '•■"'"■ Tis classification'of sheep can approxilateljvby taken ai follows: Merino, tales, '3,250,733 ; females, 4,064,499, ong-wool males, 432,322; female, 37,417. Cross-bred males,' 1,837,502; imales, ' 2j851,-856. Total, males, ,520,557; females, 7,785,772;' making a rand total of i3.,306;328. .- The exports have-amounted to 250,154; E these 2,382. were sshipped alive; the alance,. 247,772, being shipped in a rozen'siate, Port Chalmers contributing 6,781; Lyttelton, 80,920-;- Wellington, 6,803; Bluff, 16,297,; Napier, 8,003, and LU6kland, 7,968. "; •. . , The boiling down establishments have reated.,-64,873,' of which Napier has urnished the greater portion.'; For meat reserving purposes 91,490 were used, hiefly in Napier and Canterbury. ', The importß have amounted to 1,020; Australia supplying 423; England, 357; Ihatham.lslands, 171; and Tasmania '9- . -r; Tabulated form B, shows the number of heepm each county oh the 31st May. .883, together with the number ofnfeoted sheep in each district on the 31st Haroh, 1884. It will be seen that there is, unfortumtely, an increase of 107,354 infected iheep for the year. This has taken place irincipally on the east coast of the North island, and in the Marlborough District: [n both oases the effect was- caused through wild, sheep having mixed with ilean flocks. This occurred in late winter or early spring, which,' being luoceededbya season of unprecedented leverity, precluded the owners from amployingmeasures for the treatment'of their stock with the same promptness as otherwise might have been done. Fencing, in the first case, and a thorough scouring of unoccupied country in Marlborough, together with the destruction of all wild sheep found thereon, will, I hope, prevent a recurrence of infection from this cause. Since the weather has settled, and continuous work carried out, 1 am happy to state that a great reduction in the number has been effeoted. From March quarter to the present date about 120,000 have bean taken off the infected list, and I hope to see a still further reduotion by the end of the Juno quarter. Another serious drawback tj the extermination of the disease is caused by many owners persisting in using patent dipping fluids, not one ot which, -in my exporience, being thoroughly reliable'as a curative for soab. For lice and ticks they may be serviceable, but for scab the sulphur and lime dip is always thoroughly effective, nor do I think any other treatment should be reoopniaed by the department as satisfactory when dealing with that disease. . Few, if any, of tht patent dips .can be used at a sufficienl heat to be efficacious, and without heal dipping is very uncertain in its effect The composition of these patent dipping fluids often varies, which renders th( result most unsatisfactory. TheKaikouruSnbclivisi.il] still contain! the largest nmnner of infected sheep Since last year's report two of the infeo ted.runs in that sunclivision have change'i ownership. Fencing ia now being proceeded with, and ihere is every liklikooi of scab being eradicated. It ia butjair i state that the last season has beei specially hard upon these owners: havim high mountainous and part bush countr to deal with, severe weather i 9 felt mori than on lower country. I still retain th opinion I held last year, that on portion nf this country ihe only solution of th difficulty, will be in fencing off the roug! and timbered portions, and destroying al sheep that may be found thereon. During the past twelve months severs convictions have been obtained againE the owners of scabby sheep, and, althoug severe penalties have been inflicted, thei flocks are still infected. Had the sam steps been taken three years since tha are now being followed by the owners different state of affairs would exist, an it becomes a question whether the estreat ing of these heavy fines will tend to clea the country any more expeditiously. I have been under the impression fc some time that amended legislation jb no' required to- deal with these oases, an that an alteration in tbe present Sheo Act would render it more workable. Th substitution of either section 47, " Otag Diseased Sheep Act, 1875," or seotion 5 " Canterbury Siheep Ordinance 186 Amendment Ordinance, 1868," »voul meet all requirements, and be more easil administered than Section 23 of ot present Act, which deals with the posses si-m of infected sheep, The mtroduotio of eilher of the above sections, togetht with the excision of the word "negl gently,'' in section 45, " Sheep Aot 1875 would meet all requirements, I nis state that I had some years' experience i ihe working of the sections in the Otaj Aot reforred to; no great difficulty wi found in carrying out its provisions, an its efficiency was shown by the resul obtained. Other alterations of a mini nature are, I think advisable. With thai I purpose dealing in a special pape submitting proposed amendments. It will be seen by returns' that tl frozen-meat trade -has made rapid pr gress during the past year. This hi provided an outlet for all surplus stoc It may now be looked upon as a speci industry, that under ordinary condition must increase annually, as well as give great impetus to the sale of store sliee Stock of this description hitherto almo unsaleable, has been in good demand, an early in the season realized such prices t have not been obtained for years, A increasing demand for good cross bre Btock isfirmly established, this class beir admitted to be the best description ft freezing purposes. It ia a noticeable fa< that of the total increase shown c return, out of 898,233, nearly 690,000 ai classed as cross-breds,

Reviewing last year's operations, I ma remark that, although the severe sprin and summer militated against the eradioa tion of scab and prolonged the shearin (li?h!i dips predominating), yet it had til effect, principally in the South, < causing one of the best seasons know for pasture for some years, the lambin being good and the Bheep in exoeller. order on runs where quite the revere was the case for some years past,' Bdi the increase and the improved conditio of the flocks in Otago must in a certai measure be attributed to the constat destruction of rabbits during the yei 1883, which, in reality wsb the first yet in whioh anything like vigorous or con bined action was adopted. On reference to the attached tabl showing the number of Bheep in eat county in Otago, and comparing tl number for 1883 against the previoi year, the increase or decrease of she< showa at once where the rabbit pest w

most felt, or, as a rule, where its, destruction had been greatest. Thia-is specially observable • in the Counties of Wallace and Lakei- ,Jn thei formeX'the plague had been overtaken; in the latter in 1883 the peat waV'at ita worst. . Whilst'deßiing-with the refer to.the:'."kea'.'.queßtlonV; lfoVflnfr -had the the mountainous portion of that Wuhfry to oon,tend'.with the rabbits, but the' deStruotioh'of'slieep by keas w'aß something almoatiiicredible, a losß of aa high as 20. per cent..being, ; in one of two cases, attributed to this cause on runs far back and at high altitude: in faot, some oountry has lately been abandoned through their ravage's".''-! Their proponaitiea for sheep destruction seem to be increasing, .and lately I have been ¥■ informed that,they are developing the - same oacniviaua ■■habits in Canterbury, sheep having been destroyed by these birds on country at the head of the RangiWa... Some forty or fifty of them have been killed, and I am informed that it is the first year of their appearance in thai locality. The subsidy granted by Government to amount raisejL by the Lake County had a good effenf about one thousand' five hundred beaks having been .paid for;' and; I would strongly recommend that, a. farther..sem be placed on the .estimates again this year as " The Kea Destruction In conclusion. I may-report generally that the flocks throughoiit-the/oolony are healthy.; lung-worm is preV'alßnt;.inafew plaoes, .but to no greater extent than in -rf former, years; and that-the revenue of this department for the pasfc'year'has been increased by -nearly i 1.000..,- --: "■' .y . :•■ . ■ I have, &c, '.•.■; -.■...■■/ .•'• Benjamin P.JBayiy,. -'..•■ Superintending Inspector, ■ . The Hon. the Colonial Secretary. Wei- . lington. . '•■.i:.'V- i ::^'::i;'7.'