THE FAT STOCK SUPPLY,

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 8146, 18 April 1887, Page 3

THE FAT STOCK SUPPLY ,

{Canterbury Times ) Statistics of the frozen mutton trade, published in the Home papers, show that upwards of 2,700,000 carcases of sheep and lambs have been landed in the port of London in the four years ending with 1886. Of this number New Zealand contributed 1,687,000. The relative position of the four exporting countries are thus shown—- ~ New River Falkland Tear, zealind. Australia. pi ate> islands. ' 1886 601,253 66 899 332.927 30,000 1885 492.269 95,051 190.571 1884 412,349 111,745 108,823 1883 120,891 63,723 17.165 It will be seen that New Zealand is a long way ahead of the other exporting countries, and considering the very limited area of this Colony in comparison with Australia and the Eiver Plate, the quantity of mutton exported affords a most striking proof of the fattening capacity of our pasture and turnip lands. The number of frozen carcases exported from Australia and South America is a mere fraction of the total flocks of those countries, while in New Zealand it amounts to a large percentage of the entire stock of sheep. When the frozen meat industry was * started it was predicted that the supply of fat stock would soon run short, but, so far from this having happened, the numbers of fat stock have more than kept pace with the increasing export, and it is very evident that if the business had proved steadily remunerative, the production of meat would have been much greater than it is. The refrigerating process is a wonderful invention, but there is plenty of room yet for the exercise of inventive genius in order to bring the producer of these Colonies within profitable reach of the consumer on the other side of the world. With regard to the supply of fat stock likely to come forward during the winter, there is no way of arriving at an accurate estimate. It can only he roughly guessed at. Many peisons are of opinion that there will be a scarcity of prime mutton before the winter is out, and that local prices will in consequence rule high before the spring feed comes on. But this is mere conjecture. There will certainly be no overplus of winter feed in Canterbury, although in Otago feed is abundant; but there was a still greater scarcity of feed in Canterbury at this season last year, and yet the price of fat sheep reached only a moderate figure at the close of last winter. It is true there has been a heavy and continuous strain upon the wether stock, but the prospects seem scarcely such as to tempt stockowners to pinch their ewe and hogget flocks in order to hold their fat sheep for a possible rise in prices.