THE FIRST CLIP.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 28 July 1928, Page 16

THE FIRST CLIP.

NEW ZEALAND’S WOOL INDUSTRY^

The wdpl * industry in New Zealand began much earlier than is generally imagined, but records of the enterprise are iidt readily available, writes a correspondent of an Auckland . paper. The recollections pf a very old pioneer Caine in useful many years ago in aiiswer to the question ; When did the first sheep arrive in New Zealand? One answer given on thp. recorded authority of a man who helped to land them was that, they were brough t to these shores in 1836. This roused a venerable man of North Auckland, Mr W. S. Tying, of Waimate North, to reply that the date was 18 years out. The fact that the first sheep were landed at.Te Puna, Bay of Islands, in 1818 by the Rev. Samuel Mairsden. They were brought from Sydney and the first wool clip was exported ito Sydney. Mr King said that when a little .boy (he was born at the mission station at Te Puna in 1S19) he saw his father shear sheep. The year was 1824. His father was the Rev. John King, one of Marsden’s missionaries, who arrived in 1814. The missionary sent 11 bags of wool to Sydney, where the clip fetched 2s 6d jier lb. It may be that a little wool was sent tc Sydney 'before 1824, but it is difficult to ascertain at this time of day whether this was done. We know from Captain Cook’s voyages that the great navigator landed several sheep at Queen Charlotte Sound, but those animals very soon died from eating some poisonous plant. No doubt that was the. first time imported animals were poisoned by the leaves of the tupakilii. (Piroperly the fruit only is tutu, but this name is popularly applied to the whole shrub). Thus the history of “tooted'’ stock goes'back just over a century and a half.