CURRENT TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1764, 12 September 1885, Page 14

CURRENT TOPICS.

In the House of Representatives on Monday, Mr Lance moved — "That in the opinion of this House it is advisable that some 6teps should be taken to stamp out the scab in sheep wherever it exists in the Colony, and that a sufficient sum should be voted for tbat purpose." He said that at the present time scab only existed in three or four isolated places in the Colony, and his reason for moving that motion was that he thought the time had come when there should be some finality in the matter and that scab should be stamped out for ever. He had therefore determined to ask the House to pass a sum of money to eradicate the disease. The sum he proposed to ask for was £3000, which he considered was not a large sum for eradicating the great pest. Sir Julius Vogel said the Government intended bringing down upon the Supplementary Estimates a sum of money for effecting the purpose desired, as he thought it would be better to have the disease stamped out than to continue it. Mr Lance then withdrew his amendment.

The Sydney Mail of the 29th ult. gives portraits, of two of the young Clydesdales recently sent to Sydney by the Hon. Mathew Holmes — Sir William Jervois and the filly Garnet. Mr Gemmell's Ayrshire bull, Champion, is similarly honoured by our contemporary.

According to reports which we hear from all parts, not only of this district, but of the Colony generally (says the Oamaru Mail), a comparatively very small area of laud has been placed under crop this year, and the yield of wheat next season is likely to' fall a long way short of even the diminished amouut of the late season. This, we think, is a matter for regret. No doubt grain-growers have been subjected to sad disappointments, and in many cases to considerable loss during the pa&t two seasons in consequence of the low price of wheat, the natural result of over-production ; but the evidence available tends to show that next year will find a wonderful change in the aspect of the grain market, and every week that evidence becomes the stronger. It is a matter for regret that a larger area has not been sown, and it is well worthy of the consideration of fanners whether or not even now the area under crop should not be very greatly extended.

The Dutch fanners are in as great a strait as any in Great Britain. The value of their dairy products has fallen so low that no adequate remission of their enormous rents can be made. In some districts the rents seem gone. Prime quality Gondo cheeses are now delivered in London at 35s per cwt.

A breeder of sheep in a letter which appears in the Australasian administers several hard knocks to the persons who so artistically prepare sheep for show and sale. He says :— " To feed, to house, to clothe sheep is to change their appearance, and to lift them into the sphere of hothouse plants. Now that prizes are so valuable and prices of fancied sheep so terrible, we cannot expect to cure the evil except by the good sense of the public putting so much excellence down to care, extra feeding, and forcing. But, in addition to this, what we may term honest care, we have the attention and get-up, which, to my mind, is scarcely to be deemed honest or honourable. I do not now allude to absolute false shearing, but to such tricks of trade as shearing before the usual time, having lambs earner than usual, and feeding them up sooner. I have just been told of neighbours of mme — one shears in July, the other in August — the usual shearing-time for the district is October — they can swear before a J.P. their sheep are fairly shorn. But how is it possible for a 12 months' fleece to compare against a 15 or 14 months' one ? True, all can do the same ; but where draw the line ? Why, we would soon have an 18 months' fleece, then we would go on to 24 months. Where would be the limit ? True, you have to give the date of shearing. But what judge can or does allow for so much difference ? A judge cannot tell how much better the 12 months' fleece would be if on equal terms when competing with a 14 or 15 months' one. Again, I have heard of sheepbreeders taking up their early lambs and feeding them in sheds for the prices of the following year. Now, this is not dishonest, but it gives an immense advantage for size of sheep and weight of wool. It is an ' artificiality ' not imagined by judges of shows and buyers of rams. It has simply come to this, that the sheep exhibited at our shows are not the sheep of our pastures, the sheep of our wool-sheds — they are a new species evolved from the brain of the' schemer, one of which gains a point, then another tries and surpasses him by some other advantage ; and I see no cure but for the public always to remember that the animal he looks at is artificial, and to think of the power of man to improve on nature. We do not find most of the prize-winners at sheep shows to have the highest prices for their wools in the London sales — some do win there and others do not. To luy mind the great sheep show is a failure ; its prizes are too valuable — too much temptation to men to overreach their neighbours."