THE PASTORAL AND AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES OF NEW ZEALAND.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2019, 18 June 1885, Page 2

THE PASTORAL AND AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES OF NEW ZEALAND.

At the Koyal Colonial Institute meeting on Tuesday last, at the Westminster Palace Hotel, an interesting contribution on the subject of "New Zealand in 1884," was made by Mr Arthur Clayden. In the course of his remarks, the author, referring to the pastoral industry,said that the' latest official statistics showed that there were to-day in New Zealand upwards of 13,000,000, sheep, 700,000 cattle, and 162,000 horses. The wool clip for 1883, was valued at £3,179,062. The wool clip for 1884, although much larger than that of 1883, being 77,174,0001b, did not realise so much, owing to the low price of wool. The value of the clip last, year was £3,137,000. The total produce of wool in Australasia was about 300,000,000 pounds, and of this vast quantity, the comparatively small colony of New Zealand furnishes at least one-fifth. The amount of skill and enterprise thrown into this pursuit could scarcely bo credited by those who had not been to the colony. Take, for instance, the fine estate of Mr M. Studholme at Waimate. Tho visitor found on that run of, say, 120,000 acres, some 2,000 stud merino ewes, and probably 50,000 crossbreds and merinos. He also saw a herd of shorthorns, numbering 2,400 head,, and 500 blood horses. At a sale of stud sheep, held at one of tho New Zealand tojin and Mercantile Agency branches in .1882, a purebred lamb was sold to" Mr Denbigh Hall for 295 guineas, and another fetched 185 guineas. But those prices hy no means represented the maximum paid for purebred stock, for it was well known that as much as 800 guineas has been paid for a single t'am in tho colony. The: progress of the wool industry was shown by taking three dates—lß7o, 1875, and 1880, In 1870 New Zealand'exported 37,039,763 lb„ of the value of £1,703,944; in 1875 it had.risen to 54,401.540 It)., and tho value was £2,398,155; and in 1880 the figures stood at 66,860,1501b,, nearly double the quantity of a decade back. In the Canterbury district alone, comprising an area of 8,093,000 aores, there were three and a lialf million of sheep distributed among 1080 owners. A very significant fact in connection, with the wool industry was the growing home consumption by the woollen manufactories. It was a startling fact that already' about 2,000,000 ft of wool were annually used up by them. In 1858 the total. ;head of cattle numbered only 137,204 ; in 1868 it had grown to 312,835; and in 1873, it had nearly doubled, being 573,430. Probably to-day it was safe toputthe number at 1,000,000, But number was not so significant as tho efforts to improve the stock, - The other Australian colonies outran New Zealand in point of numbers, Queensland, according to the oenous of •1881, totalling up 5,059,715; New South Wales, 1,859,985 ;a«d Victoria, 1,287,088; and the total number of cattle in Australia was 8,429,448, New Zealand, howover, for various reasons, the principal of which were of course, climatic, was at the head of the list as regarded quality; henco an increasing demand for prizo stock from other parts, In August, 1883, Mr A. W. Sisson, of Calefomia,- despatched Mr Rollin P. Saxe, a cattle expert, to New Zealand, to purchaso for him a herd of pure-blooded Herefords. This gentleman purchased twenty two-year-old heifers in calf, and twenty-four, bulls from one to 2 years old, from the New Zealand "Stock and Pedigree Company, Auckland. In Illinois, these cattle, which Mr Saxe secured at from £42 to £l4B each, would fetch from £lO4 to £IOOO each, so high ; was 5 the 1 ' estimate' formed of them in the States. The New Zealand ( Stock, and; Pedigree. ■ Company, Auckland, had one of the largest herds of pure-bred Herefords in the colony. Tho

Shorthorns of New Zealand wore specially ■ ne, and ■ fetched the highest prizes. The famous bidk Duko of Newcastle, and Duke of Cambridge, bred by jissrS R. and E Maclean, of AucklaifTahd owned, by the Stock and Pedigree-Gom-pany were sent to the Sydney Exhibition irMB7B, and took first prizes- there. Recently some New Zealand cattle were shipped to Queensland, and one of them a yearling heifer, fetched 610 guineas' and another brought 381 guineas. Those cattle were the' property of the New Zealand Company, and' i-jver&V entirely grass-fed on the' Company's esfke;. Oamaru. For dairy purposes, the AkJ. shire breed were- • favorites.-- A--jß' Dilworth owned apure-blooded heifer of-' this breed,- that at one time produced as muchaq 231b of butter per week, and now averaged from 12tb to lSjbper week. Happily, New Zealand stock was absolutely free from disease; ; ;Pleuro-pneu-monia could not live in a'elimate such aa that of New.Zealand, Another interesting fact was that the cattle were much less vicious than elsewhere, In large dairy farms no one dreamed of capping the horns of even'newly introduced cows. One more fact deserved notice. .Mr Nathan, the Chairman of the ■ M'anajjtu. and Wellington railway, Olayden that such was the richness of pastures in the North Island, that oxen, 3 years old, feeding alone* on them, were fit for the butcher. With reference to the agricultural industry, Mr OJayden pointed out that the, area of land in cultivation last year wfa 1,389,74Y acres. .Of. this 390,818-: 319,858aoi'es in oats, 28,146 acresin barley, 20,488 acres in potatoes; 61,854 acres in hay, and 589,333 acres under tillage. At one time South Australia was the premier wheat-growing colony, but she had had y yield the palm of Ne.w Zealand.-'-In"187 J South Australia produced twice as much as New Zealand. lAIBB2 New Zealand: had gained upon her, producing 8,297,890 bushels, as against 'South; Australia's 8,087,032 bushels. Victoria, however, headed the list with 8,714,377 bushels. In 1883 New Zealand bore away the palm from all competitors, heading .the .list with 10,270,591 bushels, one third of all the wheat grown in Australia. ; . As to the average yield per acre; New outstripped the other colonies of Ausplasia. Iu wheat, for instance, the average per acre of Victoria in 1883 was 9,03 bushels | New South Wales 16,35 bushels; Queensland, 13,89 bushels; South Australia, 4,21 bushels jWesfcern Australia, 11 bushels; Tasmania, 20,27 bushels- New Zealand, .bushels. In oats, barley, potatoes, and hay the same marked superiority in the yield per acre was seen,with the one solitary exception l of Tasbarley, which bbat New Zealand by a little over one bushel per aero. Now * Zealand oats were gaining a foremost position in the London market owing to the superior weight—averaging-ffoni 401b to 481b per bushel. When they remembered that the average yield per acre was over 32 bushels, while Victoria only gave 19J . bushels, New Jjoufch Walijs'iboutthesame, South Australia"only I "l2,'itliere was qvery cause for congratulation.February 14th, 1885.