NEW ZEALAND'S FLOCKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20288, 22 June 1929, Page 12

NEW ZEALAND'S FLOCKS.

The interim return of sheep in NeW Zealand at April 30 reveals not only a new record in the total, but a record increase for any one year. The figure is 29,011,247, an increase of 1,877,637 compared with the final return of 1928. The interim return seldom equals the final enumeration. Sometimes the latter figure has been half a million greater than the first issued, while it is usually at least a quarter of a million greater- It is likely, therefore, that the final count will show an even better total, and the actual increase for the year will almost certainly be more than 2,000,000. This is indeed a striking advance on the progressive growth of flocks shown in the previous six years. The retrograde movement from the then record year of 1918 was arrested after 1923. From that time forward the improvement in numbers has proceeded steadily. Last year saw that earlier record excelled. Now there is a certainty that even that achievement has been bettered in the current year. As indicative of the steady determination flockmasters show to extend their operations, the number of breeding ewes figuring in the returns has again shared in the increase. These figures, coupled with the generally accepted truth that the progress of settlement, measured by the area of new land brought into occupation, has been slow for years past, emphasises again how the productivity of the soil has been stimulated by improved methods of pasture management. The growth of the flocks proves that the carrying capacity of the land has been increased to a very substantial degree. The economic staff of the Agricultural Department, in a return published in the last Year Book, demonstrated that this was so, and here, in the sheep statistics, is a further illustration. It is gratifying evidence of the strength and vitality of primary industry. It should also inspire new confidence in, and create added enthusiasm for, the cause of land settlement. If one section, so important a section, of primary industry is adding to its productive plant in this fashion, the prospects shouild be good enough to justify expansion by multiplication of the numbers engaged in it.