NOTE AND COMMENT.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3737, 11 May 1899, Page 5

NOTE AND COMMENT.

In our shipping columns reference is re' 1 peatedly ,being to the the transport of nibbS* 5 of fat frozen North Island sheep from mutton Wellington to Lyttelton trade. There can be no doubt that numbers ,of these sheep, bred and fattened on the well-grassed' lands of this province, are being slaught-' ered tit Christchurch and exported from the colony as “prime Canterbury.”,. Tin same practice obtains with regard tc' sheep from Otago. The agents of the Christchurch freezing companies are continuously making raids.into Otago and: Southland, buying largely the fat'sheep: of southern flocks and railing them tc the Canterbury yards, ; whei'e 'tjhey 1 are dressed for export under the brand that has 1 brought and is bringing something, more per pound than others ’in the London market. No objection need be taker;by stock owners to this practice. It relieves the market at-their doors,-and they probably receive a trifle more for their sheep ; but the humour of the situation is that the Canterbury farmers protest against-the practice, and even some' of the loading journals have become im; bued with the notion that Canterbury could grow all the sheep that are exported under her name. To crown all. the. representatives of the' people have 1 approached the Government on various

occasions to endeavour'to-stop the practice of sheep being railed from Southland to Canterbury, there to bo killed and frozen and exported as the “prime ” article. ..

It has been asked—Wny should Southland, Otago and Wellington an abuse sheep oe allowed to trade and its on the goou name of. Canremedv. terburyF It might be asked, by way of retaliation - —AVhy should Canterbury build up a trade on the sheep bred and fattened in _other parts of the colony, and without which the export frozen mutton trade of that province could not bo maintained F It has actually been suggested • that the Government should raise the railway 1 , freights on sheep, and that the Union Steam Ship Company should be prohibited from shipping sheep from, Wellington; to Lyttelton; but a proposal of that sort 1 is as narrow as it is illiberal and uncommercial. Why should the trade of the; colqny be hampered and fettered in. that; way F It has also been discovered'that many sheep leave too plains of .Canterbury for the ' hill slopes, of Otago by special sheep trains. These are the sheep that the Canterbury farmers are unable to fatten to be fit for ex-. port as “prime Canterbury”; but when they are rounded off on tho excellent teed of tho southern districts, they are railed back again, and the shippers' have no hesitation in branding these as “prinw Canterbury.” Tho consoling ■ thought for Otago and Wellington flock-owners is that these practices are a high testimonial to the increasing value of their sheep ; and the tendency' of Loudon prices. tc equalisation, is a further proof that, tin frozen mutton -from all parts of Now Zealand is likely soon to bo as highly esteemed as that from Canterbury. A long and carefully-written article ir last week’s Christchurch A CANTER- “Weekly Press” deals with burt this subject from a Canterview. bury point of view. The writer states, as the result o f careful inquiry, that all the. sheep, wit! one or two small exceptions', .that;, went from the North Island to Canterbury be tween April Ist and' December 31st last.

were bought by the butchers for local consumpt. It is admitted that the importation of sheep from the North has assumed large proportions. The total number of, shepp,shipped, from .Wellington’ to Canterbury for the twelve months ended- March a is, -seated (yso jbayo been 14,184,* and of. it Xs‘. alleged that considerably less thaw 1000 went to the factory Up be f [shipped Home. The stores'were either breeding-ewes or wethqr?, .for- -.finishing-off .on turnips. This, it. is; contended "entirely disposes of the' statements made tba,t. the' Canterbiiry freezing works haye been -buying or taking in Nbrth Island sh'ebp wholesale to bo exported as “prune .Canterbury,” and it' is hoped • that this statement of-, facts “will do away with a great many of the mistaken ideas that, hayo recently been put forward in the North.lsland regarding Canterbury as a market for fat sheep.” The' citlib • assumption' of ; tbe “Press” writer, “that sheep, whether bred in Southland and, Otago, or ii\;the North Island,, will improve in the quality of their m oat when fattened under the favourable conditions of r :oiir f soil, ? and.., 'climatb,’’ -is completely contradicted by what we have said regarding tho practice' of sending Canterbury sheep; South to prepare Ahem for the market. ‘Howsoe’er these things may, I 'bo, it ;is eryiimty that North Island sheep - farmers' are new paying ■ - more attention to- the breeding of sheep for. freezing purposes, and'that ere Iphg they'will be able to command, eyen; in the, local market, as high a price as the best Canterburybred and fed sheep. •