THB WOOL INDUSTRY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9117, 16 May 1891, Page 6 (Supplement)

THB WOOL INDUSTRY.

Some time since the Consular representatiyes of the United States in the principal wool-producing oountrieß were instructed to obtain what particulars they could about the wool industry, including the cost of production. It appears that the Consul at Auckland reported that the average cost of keeping a sheep in New Zealand is about half-a-crown a year, and that the average weight of a fleece is 51b for merinos ana 81b for crossbreds, while the price received by breeders is from 6d to ll^d a pound in the grease, the average being B^d. The wool exported in 1889 is stated to have been 102,227,3541b, valued at £5,607,400. A serious mistake appears to have been made in respect of the exports, as the official account for 1889 puts the value at £3,973,375. The Consul at Buenos Ayres gave some interesting details about the wool industry in the Argentine Bepublic. Sheep farming dated as far back as 1550, when merinos were introduced from Spain. But the industry received little or no attention from the early settlers; and even as late as 1840 sheep were of no appreciable commercial value. The wool was not worth hauling to the towns, and was often used for litter. The first great impulse given to the sheep industry was between 30 and 40 years ago, when some few Scotch and Irish settlers began to import rams for the purpose of improving the flocks. In 1852 there were only better than 5,000,000 sheep in the Republic. In 1860 this number had increased to 14,000,000. The civil war in America caused a great demand for wool, which gave another impulse to the industry. As a consequence, in 1867 there were 40,000,000 in the country. In 1886 the numbers tabulated were 69,000,000. Since then, owing to heavy losses, the numbers have decreased. Notwithstanding this, the consul states that the Republic has a greater number than any other country in the world, and more than the whole of the | continent of Australia, for which he puts the number of sheep at only 58,052,180. In this he is greatly in error, as the total for Australia at the end of 1889 was ovei 84,000,000, New South Wales alone having 50,000,000. The wool clip of the Argentine Republic is small in proportion to the number of sheep, the average weight of a fleece of dirty wool being put at 3.81b. But the total clip of 1889 was estimated at 283,538,0001b, which would give a heavier fleece, unless the number of sheep was greater in 1889 than in 1886, instead of .less. As a rule, however, Argentine statistics are little better than guesswork. The American Consul is of opinion that the wool-growing industry of the Republic has before it an assured success in the future.

—Of the £125,000,000 raised by taxation in Great Britain only £5,000,000 is contributed by land.