ENGLAND'S NEW SHEEP

Otago Witness, Issue 1602, 5 August 1882, Page 7

ENGLAND'S NEW SHEEP-

We are in receipt from the Agent-general's office of a pamphlet bearing the above heading. It is from the pen of Mr Michael G, Mulhall, F.S.S., and was originally written for , the Fortnightly Review, but haying- been crowded out from the current number, Sir Dillon BeU had it printed in pamphlet form in order to place it before the Home public whilst the Dunedin's shipment of frozen meat was creating interest. Mr Mulhall shows that Britain herself cannot furnish her own meat supply, and expresses the opinion that the bulk of it must come from the Australasian Colonies. In 1896 he believes that Britain will have to import a million tons ot meat yearly, her present import being about 600 000 tons, and he quotes statistics to show that New Zealand possesses great advantages over all her competitors in regard to meat-pro-duction. The pamphlet is particularly interesting, as showing the possibilities to which the trade now initiated may grow in the course of a few years, and we therefore reprint it bslow •""" The' energy and success of the New Zealand colonists could not be more strikingly displayed than in the fact that they have sent the farst cargo of frozen sheep to Great Britain, a cargo of 5000 animals, in such admirable condition as to make' the Leadenhall butchers open their eyes in astonishment. How opportune is this new source of supply appears from the quota-. tion "last week of Is Id per lb wholesale for Scotch meat, a price unprecedented except m times of famine. Indeed, we have been gradually approaching a state of things, as regards 'meat, similar to the bread-crisis when Cobden began his anti-Corn-law agitation. Our own •meat-crop at present hardly feeds our population for seven and a-half months m the year ; and as we draw from the United States nearly ■2000 tons daily, we are in great measure dependent on a country whose population is_ increasing with a rapidity to warrant the anticipation that by the close of the nineteenth century .she will require her own flocks and herds to .feed her people. Even at -present the United States have fewer sheep to population than in the United Kingdom. There are,. happily, many other countries 'now entering the lists as meat-producers on a large scale, all of which will find ready markets not only here but also on the Continent, since •France, Germany, and Belgium have to import -420,000 tons of meat per annum. None of tho new countries of the southern hemisphere can produce meat to equal that which has just arrived fiom New Zealand ? the cost of which 'delivered in London is little over 5d per lb. 'Thanks to tho march of science, the squatters «f Otago and of Canterbury Plains can send their'sheep to the London market with greater 'ease than could the fanners of tho Tweed 100 :years ago, when meat was selling at a penny a pound in Scotland and tenpence in London. Under these circumstances, let us proceed to consider— lst, the meat question in Great Britain ; 2nd, the {prospects .of New Zealand in ,this regard. I.— Odr Population and Meat-Supply. The normal increase of population in tho United Kingdom, in spite of emigration, is about 1000 souls daily ; but there is no increase

in the live stock that is to give our crop of meat. Thus it has come to pass that an interval of 14 since 1868, has added 5,000,000 to our pdjmlation, while the number of food cattle of alif kinds has fallen 7,000,000. The following -table explains the position as regards inhabitants and cattle :—

There is no reason to suppose that tho next fourteen years will not prove equally prosperous to British manufacturers and commerce, in •which case the increase of population and the consumption of meat will go on as in the internal since 18(58. Hence we may expect in 1890 ,to have a population of 42 or 43 millions, and to produce only as much meat as will feed our inhabitants for five months in the year. Our importation will then exceed a million tons of meat yearly, the bulk of wliich must necessarily come from the Australian colonies. Some people who believe in the delusive theory of prices, argue that the consumption of meat per inhabitant must decline in this countiy as the price advances, It is sufficient to

observe that the pi-ice has never been higher than at present, nor the consumption^ greater. The increase of wealth in Great Britain in the last ten or fifteen years has been prodigious, and this has much more influence than price on the consumption. It is by no means unlikely that ten years hence we shall have to pay ISd per pound for beef or mutton, and that the consumption per inhabitant will be even higher than to-day. Lot us pause for a moment to compare tlie prices in past years (at Leadenhall Market) with the average consumption in the United Kingdom per inhabitant.

Thus during more than forty years the rise in price has gone hand-in-hand with an increase of consumption, theso two items acting and reacting on each other as causo and effect. It is manifest that if our population were to consume to-day no more per head than it did forty years ago, tho price would be lower. So far, therefore, from high price denoting a decreased consumption, we may be bo sure it will be the reverse. This may be some comfort to the British farmer, who will aLvays command the highest prices' for beef and mutton in the London" market.

It is just 200 years siuce Vauban, the great military engineer, observed that nations consume meat in proportion to their wealth ; and the income-tax returns of the United Kingdom in the last thirty years bear out this statement (the income of Ireland being estimated at 18 millions for 1850), viz. :—

Here we see that the relative consumption has kept pace with the increase of wealth, the rise being about 60 per cent, in each. And if we extend our view to other countries we shall find the same rule to be very general in its application, France and Germany consuming more meat per inhabitant than the poorer countries of Southern or Eastern Europe. It is unnecessary to give long tables of statistics on the consumption in the various countries ; those of most importance will be found in the Appendix. Before concluding this section, I may be permitted to show the growth of home and foreign supply in forty years.

The figures for pigs for the periods mentionod were respectively :— 2,260,000 ; 2,313,000; 2,434,000; 2,085,000; 2,940,000; 3,027,000; 3,104.000; 3,0*0,000; 3,120,000. Annual slaughter :— 1,552,000 ; 1,565,000; 1,622,000; 1,788,000; 1,973,000; 2,015,000; 2,071,000; 2.047,000; 2,080,000.

In the subjoined table will be found side by side the yield of English meat and the quantities imported, with the ratio to population : —

There is indeed a slight increase of English meat in the last twenty years, consequent on the decline of grain-farms, but wo have no reason to expect that the United Kingdom can ever produce more than 1,100,000 tons. It is said already by tho Leadenhall butchers that the farmers are encroaching on the procreative power of their flocks, by killing too many animals before maturity, and thus weakening the stamina of so valuable an industry. 'If you want to eat four-year-old mutton,' said one, 'you must not expect to find it in our market, but only on the tables of the Duke of Richmond or other great landed proprietors.' At such a time the frozen sheep from New Zealand come most opportunely, not to injure the British farmer, but to relieve the great pressure that would otherwise kill off a large portion of our sheep before maturity. It is quite possible, as the Duke of St. Albans fears, that New Zealand mutton will be sold in our markets for English, nor could there be higher testimony of the superior quality and condition of the meat now imported from the Antipodes. What a strange result of the industry and enterprise of a handful of Scotch and English settlers, that the country which a few years ago was noted for cannibalism, and where so many missionaries and shipwrecked sailors were devoured, should now be in a position to send us at least a million frozen sheep yearly to feed our over-increasing population ! • 11.— Sheep- farming in New Zealand.

Twenty years ago Now Zealand had fewer sheep than Lincolnshire, and twenty years hence she will have more than Great Britain, if the flocks increase even slowly. The rapidity of growth at tho outset was marvellous, as shown in the official returns :—

Not only have tho Hocks multiplied ninefold in twenty-one years, but the weight of fleece has doubled, and the export of wool now averages 5s per sheep. This is 2d over the general average for Australian fleeces ; but the great superiority of New Zealand sheep is in weight of carcass, some of the ' frozen flock ' landed last week ranging from 140 to IGS lbs. If we compare the yield of wool and meat of Now Zealand sheep with those of other sheep-

growing countries, wo find the result as follows :—: —

The above shows very clearly that New Zealand possesses great advantages over all her competitors, which explains in a measure the importance that the squatters in that Colony have attained in a few years, some of them possessing fortunes equal to those of Brazilian coffee-planters. The Campbell sheep-farm of Otago was sold, in 1881, for the enormous sum of £480,000, after it had given for some years a net profit of £53,000 per annum. Such is in fact the flourishing condition of the Colony, that the increment of wealth in 12 years (represented by railways, sheep, houses, lands) between ISGS and ]SBO amountedto 20,000,000 sterling, tho public debt likewise increasing 18,000,000 in the interval. Although the total population is less than that of Somersetshire, their banking business c\cords 50,000,000 per annum, and the deposits in bank average 8,000,000. If the business of firnding home ' frozen sheep,' now ko auspiciously begnn, be followed up with like success, the colonists can, without reducing their htock or infringing on its procreative power, send us about 100,000 sheep monthly — say 30,000 tons of meat per annum, or five per cent, of the deficit that Great Britain must cover by importation from abroad. The capacity of Now Zealand for sheep-raising is apparently eight times greater than the actual amount of its flocks, or area occupied. There are but four districts (out of the nine which compose the colony) in which sheepfarming is carried on to any great extent, viz, : —

In the abovo distric acres are held in fee, and

its about 2,000,000 [ tho squatters-runs

cover an area of 14,000,000 acres, rented at 2d per acre. The revenue which tho Government derives from lands has for some years averaged £350,000, of which one third is from squatters, the rest from the sale of land to settlers. In many parts the farmers have sown English grasses, the result surpassing all expectations, as the climate is peculiarly suited. The hay crop averages 50 cwt per acre, being nearer to the Prussian than the English average, the latter not exceeding 47 cwt. The colony has, besides sheep, no fewer than 550,000 cows and 140,000 horses, Public lands not yet sold or let to squatters amount to 52,000,000 acres, which is almost equal to the extent of the island of Great Britain ; but this includes 22,000,000 acres that are of little or no value. There is still available for sheep-farming or agriculturo, and undisposed of, an area about the size of Ireland. What the colony most invites is that class of English farmers with some capital who have been in' late years emigrating to Texas and Virginia, and perhaps meeting with less success than if they had tried their fortunes in the Britain of the southern hemisphere.

Product of flock ol Sheep. Value f 1000 Per SI icep. ), Value of Clip. pence, it) 57 21 38 Weight of C'rca11m. 68 50 37 52 !In Wool. In Meat. 2-5 in 2'B 85 10J 74 15S 97 Total I £ 342 303 17-1 255 New Zen land Ausfc a'ii .. River Pl-ite. Cai^e Colouj'

Number. Inhabitants. 1868. ISB2. 1868. 18i2, Population .. Cows Rh.cp Pigs All Catt'o . . 30,6L7,718 9,085,416 35,607,812 3,189,167 ,17,880,396 35,606,000 9,905,013 27,896,273 3,149,720 40,951,008 30 110 11 157 28 78 9 115

Year. No. of Sheep. Wool Export. Value of Woo ' Iba. £ IS^S 1 523,000 3,810,000 2^4,000 Ih6B 8,419,0 0 28p75 00) 1,516,000 IS7O 13,070 000 02,220,000 3,12(J,00 1

Per Inli ifibitant. Years. Englibh, Irish, and Scotch Meat. Imported. Imported. Native. 1836-40 1841-50 1851-60 1861-70 1871-80 ISB2 .. Tons 718,000 803,000 910,000 1,016,000 1,062,0:0 1,090,000 Tons 44,000 131,000 416,000 654,000 lbs. 61 66 72 78 70 67 lbs. 3 8 28 43

Mci Produ^i ;ion in Eui •opr. Beef. siuttou (<oat. Pork. I Total. U. Kingdom . . France Germany Etus-ia Austria [taly Spain and Portugal . . Holland Belgium Denmark Sweden and Norway . . Greece and Roumania . . Tons. 690,000 550,00 i 810,000 1,050,000 590,000 160,000 Tons. 305,000 190,000 210 I'OO 400,000 1 60,000 55,000 Tons. 95,000 160,000 200,000 230,000 170,000 36,000 Tons. 1/90,000 900,000 1,220,000 1,710,000 920 00 ■ 251,000 166,000 90,000 80,000 80,000 150,000 9 000 6,000 16,000 130,000 11,000 17,000 16,000 446,000 110,000 103,000 110,000 160,000 30,000 14,000 204,000 130,000 65,000 57,000 255,000 7,319,000 Europe . .| 4,556,0001 1,598,000 1 1,165,000 l Production— Consumption. ! Produc- | tion. Consumption I burplllS. Deficit. U. Kingdom France I Tons. 11,000,0001 1,000,000 900,000 1,220,000 '1,710,000 920,000 ! 251,000 i Tons. 1,744,010 1,135,000 1,320,000 1,045,000 800,000 220,000 Tons. •' Tons. 654,000 2.10,0, 0 100,000 no 70 CO 47 53 18 - 3crmany .. Russia kus'ria Italy Spain and Portugal.. Holland . . Belgium . . Den mack . . Sweden and Norway . . Greece and Roumania 440,000 110,000 103,000 110,000 420,000 SS.OOO 178.000 66,000 05,000 Gu.OOO 25,000 20,000 25,000 •• •• 75,000 48 48 74 76 44,000 204,000 204,000 70 255,000 227,000 23,000 .. 59 Europo . . i 7,319,000 l 18,112,000 793.U00] 00

APPENDIX.

Sh"op per Sheop. Populat'n. 100 In habitants. Ofcigo .. .. 4.4-10 000 115,000 3570 Canterbury .. 3f>G),ooo 9 2,00 3570 Hawke's Ray . . 1,573,000 15,000 10,490 Wellington .. l,o:0,0U0 51,000 2720

Cati United I ;le of iincjdom. Am Slaui tual rhter. Years. 1835-40 1841-45 184.5-50 1851-55 1856-60 1861-65 1866-70 1871-75 1876-81 6,331,000 6.C18.00.0 6,907,000 T.'-'OI.OOO 7,777,000 8,248,000 8,835,000 9,081,000 9,506,0,00 Cows. Sheep. 22,270,000 ,26 110,000 .28,865,000 30,730,000 32,111,000 33,802,000 35,209,000 34,000,000 31,770,000 Cowa. 1,328,000 1,386.000 1,449,000 1,521,000 1,619,000 1,734,000 1,846,000 1, 903,000 1,994,000 Sheep. 8,670,000 10,168,000 11,352,,000 12,176,000 12,689,000 ]3,377,000 13,965,000 13,471,000 12,466,000

Income Per Meat per Year. Assessments. Inhabitant. Inhabitant. £ £ s. d. 11m. 1850 273,870,000 10 2 0 70 1860 335,110,000 11 8 0 79 1870 444,980,000 14 7 0 '91 1881 577,310,000 10 9 6 103

Year 3. Population. Meat. v at "-co C o ill &*5 1835-40 184145 184G 50 1851-55 1856-60 1861-65 1866-70 1871-75 1876-81 Ibß2 26,120,000 27,042,000 27,315,000 27,896,000 28,035,000 29,471,000 30,617,000 32,125,000 33,847,000 | 35,606,000 Tons. 718,000 783,000 832,0L'0 915,000 002,000 1,110,000 1,225,0C0 1,357,000 1,582,000 1,744,000 d. 51 47 49 51 53 , 55 57 07 I 70 | 71 : lbs. 61 64 67 72 77 S3 88 90 103 1 9