I REMEMBER."

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 14306, 18 March 1912, Page 8

I REMEMBER."

" THE NORTH CANTERBURY SHEEP TRADE. Thero was a time in our history when no sheep were sold in the yards or by auction. In thousands they were sold within tho stations on which they were bred, aud such notices as tho following, taken at random, were not uncommon to the tirno at which it appeared in "The Press," March, 1873:—"Snlo of Glemnark property, in tho partnership estate of Kermode and Moore, 35,781 acres freehold, 11 500 acres leasehold, and 25,400 sheep, sold for £85,000." There was a period when there were no sheepdealcrs. and it was perhaps thought infra dig for station owners to drive their sheep into the yards to submit them to tho hammer. The Cocks were, at this time, kept for the wool they produced, and not for the mutton. A butcher who wanted a line of sheop usually asked as a favour if ho could ho allowed to buy a small mob from a .station, where they wcro rounded up and ho paid tho prico asked, and drove them ofi to his lattenin^paddocks. Till 1832 dawned, no expdrt trade in sheep had begun. It was then the art ot froczins came into vogue, ami thft export ot that year, in VV u% m~ f r has grown yearly up to JW.tJW.OI* tor 1910. and more for last year. Tho purchases of sheep for export firms has raised a legion of experienced men, who estimate, within a pound or two, tho lire weight of a sheep, and buy thousands by their estimate as they pass under observation at the auction sale-,. while a whole- battalion of auctioneers from year's end to year's end arc engaged in arranging for, and holding, tho sales at the Metropolitan market ns well as sales in suitable country centres. And ever and anon the segregation of some large estate for the closer settlement provides a dispersal sale of the stock and often these arc memories of much interest to the hundreds taking part in the same. When 1 recollect Addington's early days the pons devoted to sheep wero few and far between, and a picture of that period compared with tho many acres of sheep pens of the present would fornl a most striking contrast. • Tho introduction of regular sales, which at this season reach largo dimensions, to Ashburton, Leeston, Itangiora, Amberley. Hawardtui, Cuh-ordcn, Cheviot, Scargill, Oxford, etc., took placo many years back. My memory does not enable mo to say who hold tho first auction of sheep, but of those in thecountry one of the William Bros., of Ran<rora, who is the second longest holder of an auction license-, madq tho business north of the Waimakariri a growing and popular institution, and sometimes at tho February and March sales ho took command of from 13,000 to 20,000 sheep in a single day in his yards.

iSheep havo been soon sold at various prices from Is per leg—nay, even 9d per head—and in later years tho flocks havo gone up to high prices. Tho first large sales at Ainberley were held by Mr W. A. Benn, and it was countod that at tho March sale in 1889, when 21,000 sheep, chiefly merinos, were yarded, that this wou(<! become tho central sheep sale of tho north. My notebook states morino wethers sold at Is od, and crossbred ewes 4s to 7b.

Tho year previous there waa held tho first sale in Mr Duncan Rutherford's yards at Culverden. Many who havo sinco passed awny "quambiod" at the Red post on that eventful day, whon we met the "wool kings'* of Amuri,' who graciously condescended to allow us to take away their surplus merinos, "culled ewes" and "culled lambs," and treated us most hospitably. The yards on that occasion contained samples of the 35,000 sheep which browsed on tho tussooky plain in charge of many drovers and countless dogs. , Tabarfc, Matson Bros., Ford and Sfcave!oy wielded the auctioneers' hammer. Merino wothors werp priced at 3s Bd, and ©wes of the same typo Is 6d to 3s lid, and two-tooth halfbreda were 6s Bd. The convivial gathoring at Cooper's Hotel was made memorable by Mr J. T. Matson predicting that a timo-would comewhen 100,000 sheep would bo assembled for salq. In 1898 tho yarding reached 105,487, tho average for sixteen years was 50,600, and sinco that 15th March, 1883, the sheep sold through • Amuri yards arc estimated at 1,200,000. In tho noxfc sale merino owes made 2s. 10d to 45—2171 from Balmoral 2s 3d, and 3960 from ll r W, O. Rutherford, Montrose, 4s, whilo 700 superior crossbreds from Culverdon Estate realised 8s 2d. In recent sales prices havo vastly advanced, and although we were told a year or so sinco that the Amuri squatter would be soon as extinct as tho dodo and tho dinornis, he still holds his own. In spite of the severance of Lyndon, Culverden, Highfield. and Balmoral, there exist some very extensive properties, on which tho merino may etillbo bred to maintain the high reputation of Canterbury flocks. Among: tho largest dispersal sales were Greta Peaks, 17 400 acres, sold in November, 1891, at £2 14s per acre, the- sheep from which station brought, for two-tooths 16s 9d, and four-tooth and laWbe 20s. In March, 1893, Cheviot's 84,222 acres were acquired by tho Government at £260.220, or. £3 2s 6d per acre, and necessitated tho dispersal* sale ot 10D.481 sheep- A special tram trans■ported persons interested to the three days' salo to tho Waipara, and from thenco forty-five coaches and drags formed an imposing cavalcade, led by a band of music, to what should be known as "Robinson County.'.rho name of tho great owner of Cheviot is only preserved in the nomenclature- of tho decadent port. This sale realised by sheep, horses and implements £43.654, and en passaut tho took ot husbandry were a 'various quantity—ono grain drill, one roller, two Teapers, ono mower, one grubber, on* fr»rm dray, and two turnip sowers tor 54.000 acres! The visitors under fine weather, with an ample menu for four meels- a day, had a gay timo. Bidding was brisk, and my catalogue sets out tho main lines as follow: — fat two-tooth halfbrecl wethers 14s 2rt. r>wos 13s 4d: four-tooth wethers loe Sd ' e-wes 14s 9rl: half-bred maiden owes i los!'2d: store lambs 8s od: thrce-quar-terbred fat lambs 14s 9d; 21,000 merino lambs 3s Id: 10,500 two-tooth merino ewes os 6d to 6s 3d: 4000 four-tooths Ss 8d; 10.000 six-tooth 8s 6d to 9s 4d; 8.000 two-tooths 7s 10d to Bs. The sheep averaged 7s S3d nor head, and 150 cattlo averaged-£4 6s <d. It was a sight to behold the nnblic following Messrs Staveloy, Archer, Boylo aud Robinson through tho lots. Horslcy Downs had its largo dispersal sale and ovontfnl Gatherings took placo at Haylands, Glentni. Mount Brown. Birch Hill otc. . Thero was ft vorv eventful sale at Highfield in March" ISO 3 when 32.821 acres having beon taken by the Government ot £2 18s per aero 48,000 sheep and 800 cattle passed under the hammer. Three hundred of the steers sold for £9 10s to £11. fivo bullocks £12 2s 6d; 32 heifers £5 7s 6d to £5 15s: 154 steors £6 4s 6d; 267 heifers £2 13s to £4 11s. The average of the cattle was about £5 per ■ head. The three-quarterbred four-tooth -wethers made 17s 7d; two-tooth half bred ewes 18s 2d; four-tooths 17s 4d; six-tooth 17s 8d; eight-tooths 163 6d; three-quarter-bred ewes (two-tooth) 12s 10d; fourtooth 14s 3d; six-tooth 13e 7d; eighttooth 18s 3d; four-tooth merino ew,es 16s 3d; six and eight-tooth 17s 7d, 1500 mixod lambs Ss 10d to 9s 7d. Tho sheep sale was carried out in torrents of rain but this did not lessen tho prices or the. vigor of Messrs Pyne, Bovlo, Archer and Stewart. Of recent yeaj-s, when White Rock, 45,000 acres, was sold, there waa a.

dispersal sale on. March 36th, 1008. of 25,000 sheep, -when .halfbred two-tooths sold to 16s lid; four and eix-rooths, 18s; six-tooth merino ewes : los fld; two-tooth Corriodale ewes, 20s Cd to 21e; eight-tooths, 18s to 20s 6d. Here, again, a tempest of rain and a flnotlod river did not shorten tho competition. The Culverden Estate, of 23,155 acre.?, having been acquired under an, award of the Compensation Court tor £119,100, the disposal of 20,000 sheep took place on March 26th, when the prices were ■— For two-tooth crossbred ewes, 23s r<3; three-quarter breds, 23s fid; memo ewes, 15s Id ; ewe lambs, Jos 6d; aud wether lambs, Ms 2d were some of the prices. <hi Monday last at Balmoral, of which 45,000 acres was sold by auction, bringing £140,229. the dispersal or 24,000 sheep took place, and, compared with tho prices quoted earlier in ft is article for the Anniri sale of 1889. t'ne merino sheep were a prominent Mature. Two-tootb merino owes reached 20s; tour-tooths, 22s 3d; and sis-tooths, 'Ds 4d; two-tooth crossbred ewes. 21s Id : four-tootb, 21s Gd; two-tootb thrvcquartorbred, 18e 9d: hnlfb-red ow.'j lambs, los; merino lambs. Us 7d: ard three-qunrterbred merino lambs, 14s 6d. This affords a striking contrast to what I remember of twenty-three years in relation to this flock, when only its culls were sold. At the Amuri ealo of Thursday, equally jrood prices were maintained, but if I recollect rightly, the highest for two-tooth halfbmls in throf yards was 3(!s -|d for Mr 'Ehincnn Rutherford's Leslie Hills sheep in 100-3.