SHEEP FROM WAIRARAPA.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 929, 30 January 1924, Page 5

SHEEP FROM WAIRARAPA.

EXODUS TO MAIN TRUNK* DUE TO DROUGHT CONDITIONS. During the past week or so it is estimated that between 12,000 and 15,000 sheep have passed through Palmerston North from the Wairarapa en route to the King Country and the Waikato district. Every day lengthy stock trains have been seen passing out of Palmerston North, and the reasons for this exodus was enquired into by a “Standard” reporter to-day. “It is quite true that there are large consignments of sheep passing through Palmerston North just now,’’ stated a well-known stook dealer and auctioneer when interviewed on the subject. “Quite recently, about 15,000 wthers have been sent from the Wairarapa to the Waikato and Main Trunk districts, and this is a phenomenal occurrence. It is nothing unusual at this time of the year for the Manawatu to absorb considerable numbers of sheep from the Pahiatua district. Here we fatten them, but there is no special significance in the fact of stock being sent here for that purpose. The exodus to the north, however, is quite unusual, and it is due solely to the drought conditions that have prevailed. In the Main Trunk district there has been a liberal rainfall and there is plenty of feed for the sheep that are being sQnt up there. “Of course, it is a very costly business for the sheep owners, but with wool at its present price there will still be a liberal margin of profit for them after allowing for the heavy freights they have had to pay for railway transport.”