The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 611, 20 April 1876, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

•• boil i rig down with legs ot mutton, tougu«£> " ftDd kidneys, which will enable tfao work- " ing classes to obtain meat at a less rate " than they have hitherto been accustomed "to pay." Under such siroumstances as these, tallow would be the better specialty of the two than wool for the farmer to study in the breed of sheep, and even the Leicesters which Judge Ward hamorously condemned, on a late occasion in the South, as being the causeof half the crime in the colony by upsetting the digestive organs ot those who consumed them, might y«t have hive their use and adrantage. Be this as it may, fourteen shillings per head for fat sheep, as realised lately at Oh&upo, it not a price that will remuuerate the breeder, and he must look to aoiue other market if he means to keep the balanoe on the right side of his ledger. When the matter was lately broached in the columns of this paper the project wtis "sat upon" by a couple of corespondents as impracticable, and it was endeavoured to be shown that the cost ot boiling down ! would leave no profit on the transaction. It is no breach of faith on our part to aay thai these letters emanated from a source interested in keeping the profit on the tallow of fat iheep, sold at fourteen shillings each, out of the pockets of the sheep farmer, and in putting it into their own ; aud we only published them in the hope that those really interested in getting a better value for their produce would take the matter np and disprove the figures and statements therein contained. On the very face of them, the calculations of cost were made to fib the price of tallow, so as ito show little or no profit, *nd had tallow been £10 or £15 higher they could have been expanded to the increased amount, and not have appeared one wh t more "approximate guessei" 'than they really were. We have again revived I;he subject in the hope that those who have a practical knowledge of its workings — and there must be such among those interested in keeping the profits in the producers' pockets — may put the question in detail fully and fairly before our readers. If it -rill pay sheep farmers iv other places to " boil down" a certain class of sheep, so it will our own settlers. Aa to tfhe extraneous matter introduced into the discussion, whether such boiling down will not ultimately raise the price of meat, and so tend to the disadvantage of the poor man, the Waikato sheep farmers have nothing to do with that. What they have to look at is how to make the best price of their produce, and study the interests of 'the working man in the matter just as much as he does theirs when he insists on a wage that leaves the sale of fat cattle «t fourteen shillings a ruinout sacrifice of the farmer's capital and labour. Meat fit for the butcher tit will uot pay the farmer to boil dowu, so that there need be no fear that sheep will be scarce in the land. ludeed, looking at their great and continued increase of late years in New Zealand, it will be necessary to find some outlet as a maT ket for the meat, or, with * drop in wool, sheep farming is quite as likely to i meet with a check that would make mutton far dearer th.m ever " boiling down" is '. likely to do effeot.

Equal and txact juitict to all men, Of wb.attr«r itatt or pmujwion, rtligioui or political • » • • • Her* ihaUttePwiitlwPiWLtfa rijfbt mamUin, Una wed by influence and unbribed by gain.

TSURSDAY APRIL 20. 1876.

Some little time since 'the advantage do rived the erection' of a boiling down establishment in Waikato, was advanced in these columns by one of the most practical and best informed settlers of the district, with a view to enabling iet t lor a generally to. get rid of their fat sheep to advantage. • The- simple &ct that large framed sheep,' rolling in fat, have been sold by •action -for fourteen shillings per head, ~iß, 'of itself, sufficient evidence that something of the kind is necessary. With tallow at £48 per ton, it is simply ridiculous that the- farmer tbould obtain -so imall a valueforhia produce. Were the price of tallow far less even than it is, I between suoh prices and the low value fetched by fat sheep at auction, there would still be ample room for profit, but with present values of tallow, which are -likely to continue to rule, it is positively watteof opporkunity on the •part- of our settlers to neglect the means of realising fifae full value of their ■ property which boiling down would afford. The farmers of other districts in new Zealand are wiser in their generation then those of Waikato, as may be seen from the following, which we take from a Southern Exchange. The West Olive correspondent of the " Hawkei Bay Herald, 1 ' writiuj: under date of March 6th, says :—": — " Boiling " down commenced this morning with the " first draft of five hundred, from ». flock o. " two thousand belonging to Messrs Gordon •' and iliil. It is anticipated that the sea- " son will be of unusual duration, and .that, " at the least, there will be 30,000 shee, " boiled down. Some of them are expected "to go 751b of' tallow per sheep. This " extraordinary yield was given by Messr> " Nelson's Bheep ' the 'Senson before last. " Such yields aa thin, with tuJlow at £it " per too, will enable the station-holder 10 " boi^down and grow rich exceedingly, " but in doing so it is to be hoped that ht " will not make his tallow his prayor-bcok, " hu sheep his Bibie, and ins wool his " (Jod. STou ot Napier will be able to obtain " prim 3 legs of mutton at a cheap rate this " seagm. as carts are to run dailvfrom the