THE FUTURE.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10263, 4 February 1899, Page 8

THE FUTURE.

In regard to the future, it is of importance to us to know whether Canterbury can keep up the supplies of freezing stock. I believe that Canterbury can, and will, produce more freezing stock than has yet been sent away. There is nothing that pays the Canterbury farmer so well as turning off fat lambs. We have got the lamb trade, and I sincerely hope and believe that the Canterbury farmer has enough energy and foresight to keep it. But if we are to keep it we must produce large quantities, so that regular shipments may De sent away Irom December to July, and even August, the bulk of the lambs to go away in regular shipments of equal quantities monthly, January to June. The more we produce the better we will be able to hold and extend the trade. One word about quality. While the lambs which arrived in London met with a ready market, it must be remembered that there have been great complaints about the coarseness of the sheep. It is to be lioped tliat the farmers will keep this steadily in view, for if we are to retain the premium which Canterbury mutton and lambs have rightly merited in the past, it will only be by getting back to the half-breds which made the name of Canterbury mutton. The buyers at Home want prime meaty sheep, small in the bone, and with good legs. They do not want coarse fat meat.