CHEVIOT HILLS SALE

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24814, 2 March 1946, Page 3

CHEVIOT HILLS SALE

CORRIEDALE FLOCK DISPERSED

AUCTION OF 1893 RECALLED Upwards of 1500 persons turned out last Monday for the Cheviot Hills dispersal sale, and though the sale was- an exceptionally good one, not all of those present had come as buyers. In its heyday, the estate was famous, and some of its former mana still clings to it Among those present was an old gentleman, now resident on the West Coast where he has been farming successfully for many years, who came over to renew an acquaintance that began well over half a century ago. He worked on Cheviot when it was one of the largest farming undertakings in the' history of New Zealand. In all 6350 sheep and lambs were offered on Monday and there was a complete clearance, with buyers from the district competing against men from far south as Ashburton. Prices were excellent, but the Corriedale flock offered was of a very high standard, and the lines offered were much larger than it is usually possible to find when sheep are being offered. Two-tooths to 42s 6d The two-tooth ewes were offered in two lines, one of 962, which made 42s 6d, and the culls, only 70 of them, which went at 255. For the 816 four-tooth ewes v 37s 6d was paid, the 912 sixtooths made 355, the 825 eight-tooths made 33s 6d, and the 709 sound mouth made 24s to 28s, with the average about 265. The whole ewe flock of 4354 averaged 34s 9d. The tops of‘the ewe lambs made 31s 6d for a line of 1009, and lines of 420 and 181 made 25s 6d and 255. The culls, 147 of them, made 18s 6d. The ewe lambs offered totalled 1757, and in addition, 100 wether lambs were sold at 10s 6d. A total of 63 wethers of mixed ages and in only ordinary shape, made 275. The 57 Corriedale rams offered made up to B|gns. Like the sheep, the cattle offered were of high standard, and sold well. The cows were Shorthorn cross in calf to Aberdeen Angus bulls, or with calves at foot to bulls of that breed. The top line, 31 cows and 30 calves, made £7 15s all counted, and the next lot, 20 cows with 18 calves, made £1 a head less. Implements and sundries had a good demand. Among the sundries was one interesting relic of the early days. It was a wool waggon, used to take the station clip through the surf on the way out to the ships which lay in Port Robinson. It was made at Addington, and was in splendid order. It was bought for £9 10s by Mr C. G. Dalgety, of Cheviot. Only Two Owners Since the Hon. W. Robinson bought the freehold in 1853, Cheviot has had only one owner apart from the Robinson family, Mr Jeremiah Connolly. It was originally taken up in 1847 as a leasehold. There has been only one other dispersal sale, that held in 1893, when most of the property was acquired from Mr Robinson’s trustees by the Government for cutting up. A few of the men present on Monday could recall that great sale of more than half a century ago, when 104,984 flock sheep were sold. The writer has before him the catalogue of that sale marked up by the late Mr Alexander Boyle. It makes entertaining reading in these days. At the beginning of the catalogue an ‘‘important concession to buyers” is advertised. The sale was begun on March 7, and the trustees offered free grazing on the estate from the date of delivery until April 17, the day before the date appointed for the Government to take possession. The sale opened, with the offering of 1184 fat two-tooth halfbred wethers which were sold in one line to James Henderson for 14s 2d. Next 3000 forward stores of the same age and breeding were sold in three lots of 1000 each at 12s 3d to 12s 9d. A. L. Joseph bought 1400 fat Lincoln cross halfbred twotooth wethers at 15s Bd. the highest price of the day for flock sheep. The best price for ewes was 15s 2d paid for 1000 Lincoln cross halfbred maiden ewes by a Mr Wiffen. Twelve Thousand Lambs

A lot of 12,000 mixed sex halfbred lambs, Lincoln and English Leicester cross, were offered “in lots of 1000 with the option of taking up to 5000.” The catalogue records the sales as follows: “5000 H. A. Knight at 8s sd, 5000 Bennetts at 8s 4d, 1000 Dudley at 8s sd, balance Colin Stewart at 8s 5d.” Threequarterbred fat lambs were sold at 9s 6d. The, biggest lot to be offered was .21,200 Merino lambs of mixed sexes, again in lots of 1009 with the option of taking up to 5000. W. Grant is recorded- * as buying two lots of 5000 and another of 2000 at 3s and 3s Id.

The two-tooth Merino ewes were offered in one lot totalling 10,500. They were taken in drafts of 1000 to 3000 and realised from 5s 6d to 6s 3d. Fourtooth Merino ewes made 8s Bd, the whole line of 4800 being taken by C. Newton at that price. An interesting lot nowadays was one of 1000 fat six- and eight-tooth Merino wethers. They made 10s 2d, a good price on the day. Apparently the housewife of half a century ago had no objection to the sweet but dark Merino mutton which would send her daughter, or granddaughter, of ,to-day rushing to the butcher with accusations against the freshness and quality of his meat. The stud sheep offered included English Leicester ewes and rams, Lincolp rams, and of course. Merino ewes and rams. The final lot in the sheep section is “500 Merino rams, mixed ages.” They could be bought in lots of 25 with the option of taking up to 100. Old Merino Flock A note says, “The Merino flock has now been in existence 30 years, having been originally started by the late Hon. W. Robinson from the purest Tasmanian flocks, and possesses strains of the famous flocks of Messrs J. W. Toosey, W. G. Gibson, Jas. Gibson, Gibson and Son, D. Taylor, and Kermode, all of Tasmania, and amongst others, the following noted rams, viz.. Royal Duke, Goldmine, Silverdrop, Fortune, Premier, etc., have been used in building up this flock, and, with judicious breeding and careful culling, it has now reached its present high state of “perfection.” Three of the Merino rams are recorded as having been imported from Tasmania and purchased at Christchurch two years before the sale at lOOgns, 70gns, and 65gns. This second sale, and the cutting up of the property which caused it, mean the end of a station which preserved its own marked individuality for a century.