Pastoral Progress Revealed in Meat and Wool Production

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21647, 13 November 1933, Page 23 (Supplement)

Pastoral Progress Revealed in Meat and Wool Production

UK story of the development of tho meat and wool industries adds an inspiring chapter to tho history of pastoral progress in tho Auckland Province. Tlio meteoric riso of dairying, with its spectacular results in per cow and per acre production, nwiy have dono more than any other single factor to place tho provinco in tho van of pastoral progress. Hut the North has not lived by butterfat alone. Other industries have played their part. Meat and wool especially have made consistently vital contributions to tho economic stability of the community through the years, ami have proved to ho highly profitable media fur tlif capitalisation of splendid natural resotircrs of soil and climate. Of the IS' export meat works in tho North Island, live stand in tho Auckland Provinco as the monuments to vigorous and progressive industry and a highly-maintained fertility of soil. As a connecting link between tho producer and the consumer on the other side of tiie world, they occupy a key position in tho .conversion of increasing quantities of lamb, mutton, heef and pork into cash. Tho expansion of the I locks in the provinco is intimately reflect od in their development. They now handle an output worth huudreds of thousands of pounds each year. A glance at the statistics relating to tho sheep position in the province during tho last decade reveals a progress which challengos comparison from any other portion of tho Dominion. Auckland's Hocks reached their highest total, 2.559.N50, in 1931, this being nn increase of 1 .-31,297 sheep, or almost exactly 75 per cent on the figures returned in 1925. In 1931 the two Auckland land districts, with Westland, wcro the only areas to record increases in sheep population, the decrease for the Dominion that year being 1,018,771 slice]), Since then the province lias shared in the common experience of declining llock figures. Tho total at April 30 last was 2,477,263, a reduction of 412,591 on the peak figures two years before, but exceeding the level established in 1929, an achievement equalled only by Westland and Southland. The greatest annual expansion occurred in the 1929-30 season, when the number increased by considerably over 600,000, or by 24 per cent, which was moro

tlian twice the contemporary increase in Canterbury aiul Tnore than six times the whole increase for Marlborough, Nelson and Westland. For' a province in which sheep have played only a secondary part the record is a great one." Read in conjunction with local exploits in the realm of dairying, it leaves littlo to the imagination in assessing the value of productive potentiality in the North. The production of export meat in the Auckland Province dates back to the introduction of refrigeration technique 50 years ago. Iho historic shipment from Port Chalmers to London by the ship,Dunedin in 1882 created a widespread interest in export possibilities, and Auckland made its first venture the next year with a shipment by the Mataura, which left on Mav 25 with a mixed cargo of beef, corned

THE term " Prime Canterbury," as applied to lamb quality, has been rendered ; obsolete by the great progress of the shtrp ij industry in the North, and particularly in the I' Auckland Province. Southdown-Romney cross lambs from Auckland now secure top prices j at Smith Held, and London meat experts have declared that the carcases are of ideal quality for the English market.

beef, mutton, veal, pheasant, assorted meats and fish. The refrigeration was done on board, in the absence of local facilities, but this latter deficiency was remedied by the flotation the same year of the New Zealand l'rozen Meat and Storage Company, which erected the wellknown King's Wharf plant at Auckland. Import on an organised basis scorns to have commenced from there in 1881, but the venture was apparently not without its vicissitudes, for in those early days the business passed through the control of many owners.

In 1903 the move which culminated in tlio formation of the Auckland Farmers' freezing Companv, and which marked the commencement of the effective history of meat export from the province, was instituted. J lie company opened its first works at Southdown, With a daily killing capacity of 80 cuttle or 1500 blieep, in March, 11)05. The next year it Bteppcd into the line of direct sue,cession from tho pioneers of the freezing industry by purchasing

VIGOROUS INDUSTRIES

the King s Wharf works—then conducted by Messrs. R. and W. Hellaby, under tbo name of tbo Auckland Freezing Company—for tbo freezing and storage of primary products otber than meat. Tbo erection of tbo Horotiu works was put in band during tlio early war years, tbo launching of tbo project coinciding with a tremendous expansion in tho export of meat under tbo spur of emergency demands from Great Bri-

tain. Tho plant, with a capacity of 3000 sheep or 200 cattle a day, was opened in January, 1010. On May 20 of the same year Messrs. W. and 11. Fletcher opened their works at Westfield, which increased the killing capacity of tho province's freezing plant by a further 3000 sheep or 2~>o cattle it day. Tho next step in tho march of progress was made by Messrs. R. and W. Hellaby, Ltd., the holders of tho oldest export licence in the province, who had

THERE are farms in the Auckland Province to-day which carry as many as five sheep and more to the acre. What the dairyman is doing in the way of high per acre returns is being largely duplicated on the sheep pastures of the province and economy in production is being steadily promoted by the adoption of modern methods of management.

been operating from tlieir premises in Shortland Street since severing tlieir connection with tlio King's Wharf works. Under the demands of an ever-expanding industry a move was made in 1921 to the present plant at Westfield with its capacity of ]OOO sheep or 200 cattle a day. The next year the Farmers' Freezing Company commenced operations at_ its branch at Moorewa. It is difficult to arrive at an exact estimate of the latest export totals from the various works as details of the stock handled by each are not available. If the figures for the 15)32-33 season could be grouped, however, it would probably bo found that the number of lambs sent away approached the 900,000 mark, and that the return exceeded £400,000; that the number of sheep exported was more than 100,000 and the return about £55,000; and that cattle approximated 90,000 head and brought in over £200,000. With tho income from pigs, bobby calves and veal added, the amount received by the province for the meat sent overseas during the year could safely be said to have exceeded £750,000. The outstanding feature of tho trade—revealed by tho Auckland Farmers' Freezing Company's operation—has been tho wonderful advance made in the production of fat lambs. The postwar years have witnessed a remarkable accession of interest in this branch of the industry, output since the 1322-23 season having increased by 300 per cent. Sinithfield's reception of the product lias left no room for doubt concerning quality, tho prices paid liavo represented the highest market values and the fat lamb has now come to bo recognised as the dominant factor in meat production in tho province. Wool has always been an important source of income to Auckland, and was, in fact, the foundation on which tho early progress of tho sheep industry was built, being then the only commodity of export value. Jlut if refrigeration definitely divided tho allegiance to woolgrowing, it has had anything but a restrictive influence on development. Annual production now exceeds 60,000 bales, and although Auckland's wool cheque for the past season amounted to only £311,887, there have been years in which the return has been fully three times that sum. In the ]92-1-25 season (ho province reaped tho richest annual reward from its flocks that it had ever enjoyed. Under the influence of a world shortage, prices soared to unprecedented levels, and the province responded to the promise of exceptional profit by rushing in an entry of

18,892 bales, representing just on half the annual output at that period, for the opening sale in December. It was a memorable occasion, for tlie sale struck the market at the peak of its buoyancy, and was distinguished by the fact that the values ruling were the highest ever reached in the history of the wool trade. Top price of 3G}d a 11) was paid for Waihek© half bred fleece, and the average price ranged between 23Jd and 2lid a lb. Wool, it was estimated, was converted into cash at the rata of £IOOO a minute, and many of the best clips brought £1 and more for each fleece. The averago price a bale was 17s 8(1. Sellers at tho February and March fixtures had to bo content with much lower values, but the aggregate result for the season was vastly satisfactory to growers. The average price a lb.

over the three sales was 19.6-1(1, and the averago price a bale £"2B as (id. The 36,619 hales disposed of brought iti the sum of £1,035,414, representing an increase of approximately £340,0(10, or nearly 50 per cent on the previous season's return. The highest aggregate return from wool was secured in the 1927-28 season, when the income amounted to £1,015,590. The average price a lb. for the season was only 15.43 d, and tho average price a bale was £22 (is 3d, hut tho disposal was 46,5G1 bales, an increase of over 10,000 bales on the 1924-25 season. Tho value of meat and wool to the provincial exchequer, coupled with the steady rat© of expansion throughout the years, points a definite moral. This is that specialisation in any ono branch of primary endeavour as a permanent policy would be a complete negation of the destiny which properly awaits a region so richly and variously endowed as tho Auckland Province.