AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS IN CANTERBURY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1832, 31 December 1886, Page 19

AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS IN CANTERBURY.

(From Our Special Agricultural Correspondent.)

Chop Prospects. — Mutton a Penny a Pound. Low Price of Beef.— The New Frozen Meat Contracts. — Morr Favourable Prospects for Shippers. — The Proposed Wool and Grain Show. — Wool Promises and Wool Sales. — The Rabbits. — The Grain Market. Christchurch, December 24.

During this month the weather has been most favourable for farmers in almost every part of the province, and grain crops, turnips, and grass are making satisfactory progress. Wheat promises to be an exceptionally good crop ; but on some of the poor land of the Plains, especially about Rakaia and Temuka, o<tts are almost a failure, having grown only about a foot high, and being now in head. Grass on such land is also getting very sparse, having been eaten so closely down last summer that it grew up very thin this spring. Rain is again badly wanted in these districts by farmers, who are already getting apprehensive of a scarcity of feed before the autumn is past. At presect live stock is in good condition, but there is no sale for either cattle or sheep at anything like remunerative prices, so that many farmers are overstocked, especially with sheep. The low jfrices for fat sheep, which I feared when I wrote you a month ago, have set in, and owners are holding back their drafts as much as possible. Very fair merino wethers could have been bought at the Addington market this week at the rate of Id per lb, though some extra lines realised as high as 2d to 2£d per lb, while good merino wethers were worth only 4s to 5s 6d, and good crossbred wethers 7s to 9s, the nearly pure merino wethers (being by Canowie merino rams out of quarterbred ewes) bred by Mr Leonard White (Rakaia) brought 19s 6d a head. These were as fine mutton as ever I saw, and this opinion which I formed on seeing them alive in the market' is more than confirmed now that I have seen them forming part of the Chriitmas show of one of our suburban butchers. Fat cattle must now be very good to fetch the equivalent of 20s per 1001b. Some other very grand sheep sold at from 11s to 16s each. The supplies from* local graziers have proved equal to the demaud for the Christmas trade, many butchers having bought largely of North Island cattle a month or six weeks back. These cattle were of magnificent quality, but a line sent to market last week by Mr John Ferguson, the well-known Christchurch grazier, excelled them, and some four-year-old polled Angus beef from Tarndale, Hanmer Plains, is as good qnality as could be wished. Altogether, the butchers this Christmas have a splendid display of meat, and it may interest some of your readers to know that by far the . best show among them is that of Mr W. H. Cooper, who at one time was at thfi City Butchery, Dunedin.

The very large prospective supply of fat sheep, and the unsatisfactory position shippers are in with regard to freights, have caused the directors of the Canterbury Freezing Company to ask their shareholders for power to make shipping contracts for so far as two years iiradvance, provided the rate does not exceed l£d per lb. This was conceded by the shareholders at a special meeting held two days ago, but not without strong opposition on the part of two of those present. The chairman of the company, Mr John Grigg, than whom no man has done more to foster the frozen meat trade, has a keen sense of the injustice of the monopoly secured by the shipping companies in the present refrigerating patents, and as he had been informed just before the meeting that the control of the Hall patents had also been monopolised, there was at more than one' point of the meeting some rather Bharp recrimination between him and Mr P. Cunningham, who apparently watches the Shaw-Savill and Albion Company's interest here, and Mr Murray-Aynsley, chairman of the New Zealand Shipping Company. It transpired that the .Canterbury Freezing Company had come to an understanding with the companies in other districts not to pay more than lid per lb freight, but when there was a strong demand for space last season somo of the North Inland shippers broke this compact, and paid If d per lb, thus securing space to the detriment of Canterbury. Mr Cunningham exulted in this, " euchreing" (as he vulgarly termed it) of the local company, but it need hardly be said that Mr Grigg did not see it in that light, nor did Mr Cooke, manager in Christchurch of the Loan and Mercantile Agency Company. Both shipping companies now declared themselves willing to carry meat at l^d per lb, if they were given full cargoes every month, instead of having to buy sheep to fill their space during the dull season. The Freezing Company has offers at IJd per lb for an engagement that would extend beyond three years, and there is little doubt that reasonable rates of freight will be obtained now that the directors have power to enter into a two years' contract There is a feeling among some of the country shareholders that they are not fairly treated ia the allotting of Bpace ; but they were generous enough to reserve their complaints during the present juncture. The proposed wool and grain show has been shelved for the present ; but a cojnmjttee has

been appointed by the Canterbury A. and P. Association to mature the scheme and publish the conditions in good time for next season. This is a wise course, for, from what I have seen during my recent long travels in the country districts, next year's wool clip should'be a superb one. Young and old sheep alike are in magnificent condition, and there is no danger of any shortness of feed; so that, if no uuforseen check comes to them, the growth of wool must be deep and sound. The autumn this season confirms my previous writings as to the shortness of growth and waut of stamina in the wool on paddock sheep, while hill sheep are yielding well. The wool sales last week were again on an important scale, nearly 5000 bales passing the hammer. Prices were on the average nearly or quite Id per lb lower than at the previous auctions. At this decline competition was good, but still about one-third of the quantity catalogued was withdrawn. In merino wool the principal sale was that of the " Rokeby '' clip, which was passed in at the previous sale at the absurd, price of lid per lb, and was now sold at 9d per In, which was little else than throwing it away. Such are the vagaries of auctioneers. One of them in his published report impugns the accuracy of the telegrams from the London wool sales ; but as the cablegrams received by private firms agree with the press telegrams, and he does not state wherein they are all wrong, his attack seems to be simple "ink slinging." There was a very good assortment of crossbred wool at these sales, but merino clips were few and small. The following quotations may be given : — Greasy merino, fair to good ... 7H to 8d per lb „ „ superior ... B£d to 9d „ „ halfbred, fair <o good ... 7M to 8d „ „ „ superior ... B|d to 9d „ „ three-quarter.bred, fair to good ... ... 7d fo 7M „ „ three-quarter-bred, superior 8d 111 1 BJd „ „ Long wool ... ... fljdtofd „ The quotations for superior lots are, in a great degree, nominal, and have been obtained in moit instances by private treaty. One very fine line of crossbred vas sold thus at 9Jd per lb. Inferior and skirfcy wools ranged from Jd to l£d per lb below the above prices. I have not heard of anything new respecting the Hopefleld scab case. The owner is using every means to cure the disease, while his neighbours are strong in their demand that the whole flock shall be killed off. Rabbits have increased iv numbers in the localities in which they were established last autumn, but have not spread to any great extent beyond those spots. The abundance of green food has put a stop to poisoning for the present, but men are engaged digging out the stops, and when winter kills down the grass poisoning will be resumed. The Mackenzie <'ountry people are in fear of an invasion from the Otago lake districts, and are anxious that systematic measures should be taken to prevent any such calamity. [ Farmers who go in for cropping are being cheered by the firmer tone and advance in price in the London wheat market. Stocks are very light ; indeed had it not been that large purchases for export were resold here we must have been short of our necessary supply for home consumption. There is nothing doing in the local grain market.