THE PRICE OF MEAT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 3, 28 September 1907, Page 2

THE PRICE OF MEAT.

'. REASON OF THE INCREASE. With reference to tho rise in tho price o fmoafc ,a well-known Wairarapa authority who prophesied a rise months ago .informs our correspondept that the primary cause of tho incr'oaso is not as alleged by some newspapers, but is owing to the, opening up of now country,: coupled with tho fact that many dairy' farmers who havo dono well at. their own particular industry havo now discarded cows for sheep, Dairy farmers who commenced business in a comparatively small way years ago, arc now in a position to go in for larger holdings which naturally carry sheep. An instance is that of a young dairy farmer in tho Forty Mile Bush. By industry and ability he raised a dairy herd which was described as the best in, the district. His returns from tho Bollance Dairy Factory for the past season represented something like £750 from 51 cows, running on a hundred acres of land; but he also leased another hundred acres some timo of tho year for grazing purposes. It would be thought that this young fellow was quite satisfied, with his income. He was not, however, and a few weeks ago ho sold his stock and land clean out to take u pa sovon-hundred acre sheep farm in tho Woodvillo district. There are many other cases of a similar nature, and it is this fact which is mainly responsible for tho rise in tho prico of sheep and mutton. Tho returns show that last year thero wero about 850,000, riiore sheep in New Zealand than thero wore in the previous year, , and it is stated that .as there has been no over-exportation this year, statistics would show that, tho enumeration of sheep in 1907 would reach a tally of 20,000,00, which number . has not been in evidonco sinco 1905. Land ngonts in all parts of the Wairarapa and Forty Mile Bush district report that there is a greater domand for sheep farms than'any othe'r land business in the country.