STUD RAMS BY AIR

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25444, 16 March 1948, Page 4

STUD RAMS BY AIR

RAILWAY DEPARTMENT’S SERVICE Forty one-shear Romney stud rams which left Mr S. J. Strachan’s stud farm at Apiti. near Fielding at 5.30 o’clock yesterday morning were penned at the Addington showgrounds before noon. The rams, which were consigned to Messrs Dalgety and Co., Christchurch, were brought down for the stud ram fair on Friday. They were taken from the farm early yesterday morning and brought to Paraparaumu, where they were weighed and loaded into a Dakota aircraft under charter to the New Zealand Railways. The aircraft left Paraparaumu at 9,45 o’clock ana touched down at Harewood at 11.10 o’clock. One of the department’s sheep-carrying trucks was waiting at the aerodrome and the . rams were taken in it to the showgrounds. They arrived in good condition and did not appear to be distressed by the flight The service, which is estimated to be 70 hours quicker than the rail and ship service, is not the first to have been run to Christchurch, but it is the first time such a large consignment has been forwarded to a ram fair. One previous consignment was brought from Wellington. The aircraft landed at Harewood and took off with the remainder of the livestock for Dunedin. Officials of the department said yesterday that stud sheep owners were very pleased with the service. They expected it to develop considerably.