BIG IMPROVEMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 245, 15 October 1936, Page 8

BIG IMPROVEMENT.

AUSTRALIA'S LAMB TRADE. > "NO REASON FOJt WORR.Y." (By Tele jrrapji.—-Own Correspondent.) . INVERCARGILL, Wednesday. . , Although . Australia's catering for Great Britain's, lamb trade shows a definite improvement, the Commonwealth. cannot ■ do New Zealand any .harm, except possibly in a particularly, good season. . This, at least, is the, opinion of Mr. J. M. Watson, who has just returned from a visit to Melbourne, where he judged the fat sheep and export lamb classes at the Melbourne Royal- Show. I Mr. Watson' is one of New Zealand's leading sheep experts. "There is no reason for any immediate worry, and-this season looks like being a bad one for Australian producers," he said. "That is their- big trouble, their seasons are so uncertain." There was plenty of room yet for improvement in Australia's ewe flocks, but the authorities were setting about this work very seriously. An advisory board, based on the same principle as the New Zealand Meat Board, had been formed, but it was not yet functioning properly. Its aims were to stimulate advertising, improve shipping facilities, and to encourage producers to use better rams and ( to do everything possible to improve their flocks. "The results must be beneficial and New Zealand- cannot afford to ignore this rivalry," he said. In a good season, Australia could flood the market, but this year, for example, it was estimated with the figures for West and South Australia would be 50 per cent below those of last season, and that the ' production of New South Wales too would be substantially lower.