EXPORTATION OF SHEEP FROM THE CLYDE TO NEW ZEALAND.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 6, Issue 326, 18 October 1862, Page 5

EXPORTATION OF SHEEP FROM THE CLYDE TO NEW ZEALAND.

[From the Glasgow Daily Herald.} Lest any future follower of Mr. Darwin should -propound the enquiry how Leicester sheep had found their way into New Zealand, we deem it our duty as chroniclers of the events of the time, to place on record a fact which will be of some importance in any such investigation. The human race seems to be turning topsy-turvy all the operations of nature in reference to the character and distribution of species ; and if it ever happens — as we once heard an intelligent doctor of medicine maintain — that the race of man shall be utterly destroyed from off the face of the earth, to make way for some new creation, as far above present men as present men are above the gorilla, we are afraid the said superior intelligences must be mightily puzzled, Avhen we are all converted into geological phenomena, and can give no account of the matter, to trace anything like & consistent connection in what we presume they will then call the operations of nature. Leaving them, to scramble their way through the difficulty as they best can, we are content with placing our own circle of readers in possession of the fact, that within the last ten months three ships have left the Clyde, containing each a cargo of upwards of a thousand Leicester sheep, for New Zealand, and that a fourth will leave our harbour within a day or two, having on board 1700 more. Three of the four vessels were chartered by, and fitted up under, the superintendence of Messrs. •dree, Skinner, & Co., of Gordon-street. So complete were the arrangements, that though by the last of the vessels which left our port 1065 were • shipped, only 18 died during the voyage — a circumstance which probably has not any previous parallel — and before the surviving 1047 were many weeks in the colony they had multiplied to the extent of 100 per cent. Having heard so much of the circumstance, and being struck with the prudent foresight and thoroughness of the • arrangements which could convey upwards of one thousand sheep to the very antipodes with a loss ■of only 18, we paid a visit to the vessel, the Flying Mist, which is about to transport the largest • cargo from this country. The space known as the between decks has been fitted up with pens — -one row along each side of the vessel, and another running along the centre of the space. Each row is divided into two tiers, a lower and upper, and so great is the depth of the between decks that this can be conveniently done without infringing on the health or comfort of the sheep. The between decks measure 200 feet in length, about 400 feet in breadth amidships, and about 10 feet in height. In the pens are placed small troughs for holding the food, which consists of a mixture of hay, oats, peas, and oilcake, all copiously saturated with water, which is the only process by which they imbibe liquid. The Flying Mist, which is owned by Mr. George B. Chase, and other American gentlemen, and which is to be under the command of Captain Linnell, one of the owners, was formerly engaged in the China trade.

Where are food and water to be stowed away for 1,700 sheep about to emigrate to New Zealand, without any hope of ever again seeing their mother country? For such a voyage, 1,700 sheep and the necessary number of shepherds will require 64,000 gallons of water, which will occupy about 450 tons of space — each ton of space being 40 cubic feet — in the ship's hold, and they will require 170 tons weight of food, which will occupy about 756 tons of room. The charterers •send out in the ship's hold 4,800 bags of food, each bag weighing lOOlbs., and they save the immense space required for water by a novel expedient. The ship carries no water with her, and machinery has been fitted up on board for distilling it from the sea. The water is first forced from the sea into a condenser by means of a large steam pump. This condenser contains a great number of pipes, but the water forced into it does not enter the pipes, but surrounds them to cool them, and condense the steam that is passing through them. The salt sea water is pumped from the condenser into the boiler by one pipe, -and direct from the sea into the boiler by another pipe, and in the boiler it is converted into steam. The steam is forced into pipes which lead back through the condenser, where the constant influx of cold sea water condenses it into water perfectly pure, and fresh, and fit for use. This water is collected in a tank beneath. There is thus a constant flow of cold water passing through the condenser, and the colder the water the more rapidly is the steam converted into pure water. The saline and other elements which were precipitated to the bottom of the boiler in the process of converting the water into steam, is run back into the sea quite warm, or it may be sent through another pipe and used for washing the •decks. The apparatus is able to condense about •85 gallons of water in an hour ; it might condense more, but the water in that case would leave the condensing pipes a little warm. When we visited the vessel the apparatus was actively employed in turning the filthy water of the Clyde, foelow Glasgow, into a beverage as pure and crystalline, though not quite so cool, as our own Loch Katrine water, and the taste was perfectly pure and sweet.

The ventilation has also been thoroughly attended to, copious air holes cut in the deck and sides of the vessel from stem to stern, and a complete circulation of air kept up. The air is thereiore quite wholesome.

The land required to form sheep runs for such immense and ever multiplying flocks must be necessarily extensive. The Flying Mist has been chartered for nine voyages — one between this country and New Zealand, and eight between Australia and New Zealand. The Australian sheep, however, neither breed so early nor so frequently, nor do they grow to nearly the same size, or yield the same quantity of wool as the Leicester sheep do. Those taken out to New Zealand from this country are the sheep recommended by the Bradford Association as the best adapted for the climate of that rising colony ; and the results, as far as known, . show that the Leicester sheep are successful competitors with the acclimatised merino sheep of New Zealand. The Flying Mist and the vessels which have preceded her, have been fitted up at very great expense, and we wish success to our townsmen who are doing so much to improve the breed of sheep in New Zealand,