STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2258, 10 June 1897, Page 6

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Br Droves.

Weekly Stock Sales : Invercargill, Tuesdays. Burnside, Wednesdays Monthly : ABhburton, Tuesdays Clinton> pp a l me rston, Addmgton, Wednesdays and -Wmtou. Fortnightly: Periodically : Balclulha, Fridays Heriot, Kelso, and Kye ' Gore, Tuesdays bura. Oamaru, Tuesdays. [Commuclcttlons of interest t« stockbreeders and dealers are ordially invited. AH jommunioatlons to reaoh Witness office lot later than Monday nicht,l At Burnside last week there was another large yarding, and consequently prices for anything short of primest were lower than ever. There were seme pens of really prime bullocks, and these met with good competition ; £8 to £9 — or equal, I should say, to 18s per hundredwas paid for them. All lower quality and medium and inferior met with practically no demand at all. Prime beef will, I think, improve in price, but the quantity of light and j inferior being," itaeems, in excess of any prospective demand, I see littla hope of improvement for such. At Addington the yardings continue to be about the same kind as at Burnside — viz., few prime and plenty of inferior quality. Prime beef brings 17s. Store cattle are not in demand, two-ye&r-old heifers bringing £2 5s and 18months steers 35s per head. The quality and breed of the cattle yarded could not be classed as "prime Canterbury," but the main suppliers of prime beef there sell outside the yards. The sheep yarded consisted mostly of ewei, and there was nothiDg in the way of prime mutton to bs seen. Buyers for export did not operate, there being absolutely no temptation. Though in the past I have seen them compete hotly for similar sheep, this is not the case now. The old ewe as a, prime freezer is a thing of the past— a relic of the days of plungers and inexperienced buyers. Experience has been purchased at heavy cost, and unless we have a new importation of buyers for export we " shall never see the like again." A few medium quality crossbred wethers brought up to 13s 6d under fair compaction. The rest of tha yarding was more or less at the mercy of butchers, and they did not seem eager to buy even at the low prices ruling— Bs to 10s. At Addicgton the market for pzime sheep is weaker, as there is not the usual competition, only one factory out of the three being in the market for* sheep. Belfast is, I hear, closed meantime. The yardings consist mostly of ewe mutton of uncertain age and quality. Prices show a decline of fully Is per head for good butchers' sheep. Half fat and stores fail to find buyers, as graziers generally, owing to scarcity of feed, will find enough to do for the cert few months to keep the sheep they have on hand in anything like condition. I don't think that "prime "Canterbury " c»n he in heavy supply till well on in the spring. The Christchurch Press in a leading article practically admits my contention that sheep were beiDg railed from Otsgo to Canterbury freezing works. The writer talks of the time as two years ago, and also says " ifcjvas at a time of exceptional pressure, when the Canterbury companies had difficulty in filling the cargo space for which they had contracted." Now the fact ia that the sending of mutton and lamb from Otsgo has gone on not only two years ago, but before that and ever since, and may still be going on. Then sgain the same conditions that formed the excuse given by the Press for sending Otago mutton as Canterbury may doubtless have occurred since, as we know the sheep and lambs have gone. It is no use saying the sheep and lambs were inferior, and were not branded "Canterbury." Buyers bought them to hive them so branded, and did not buy large drafts at top prices to have them shipped *s inferior meat after paying heavy railage. At a meeting of the Christchurch Chamber pf Commerce at the end of last month Mr Gilbert Anderson, manager of the Islington works, »tated that his company branded mutton not grown in Canterbury as " New Zealand." I have ife on the authority of one who should, and I think must, know that if this is now the Isliagton method «f branding, the reform % h»s fceea instituted since the " Prime Canterbury " question came into prominence, and that the Christchurch Meat Company'! exports have all b«rae the company '• trade mark ("Eclinie"}

and brand up to the time of Mr Anderson's statement. Then, again, doubtless Mr Andereon has in the pesfc found it unwiso to inquire too energetically i s to where the prime mutton and lamb came from. Till lliia " Prime Canterbury" question cropped up it was not in any way necessary to be co awfully particular, "don'fccbecknow." The Piess article on this question drags in the nb'quitous bike to help a rather laboured argument. This seems to me to help the question at issue very littie, but is \ a splendid advertisement for the BaesfconHumber bicycle ; and sheuld the asjenb for that ; particular bike be a ra&der of the Witness, as I suppose he ie, I call hia attention to It, for it will interest him if no one else. ( A settler of standing and large experience ' sends me the following memo, re Mr M'Queen's remarks in the Mataura Btsign of May 29 :—: — : The whole of Mr M 'Queen's argument prsceeds on the assumption that &he rabbits are the > basis of a growing industry which should be fostered and encouraged. The settlers, on the other hand, look on tha rabbit aa a plague which should be suppressed by every available means. If Mr M'Queen can show that the freezicg and exporting of rabbits is tha mosi effectual way of suppressing the nuisance there might be something in his statements, but he proceeds on the assumption that this trade is one which should be encouraged and perpetuated. This must imply the protection of rabbits from poisoning and other means of destruction in order that the so-called industry may be fostered. The settlers look on the rabbits as a formidable nuisance. The law also looks on them in the same light, and this being so the ' only question to be decided is by what means ; can the rabbits be most <?ffdctua!ly suppressed with the least; risk of damage to stock and other useful animals. It has been found that phosphorus poisoning, even when great care is taken, is very dangerous for sheep, cattle, and horsea, and also to men handling the poison ; and if it can be demonstrated that a disease fatal to rabbits but innocuous to stock or human beiDga o»n be introduced and spread, the ultimate reduction of the rabbit plague within very narrow limits will have been secured. No one expects to see the rabbits entirely exterminated. This is nob to be looked for; bub if thtir fecundity can be greatly lessened and their numbers be enormously reduced by the means to which Mr M 'Queen so strongly object?, an ecorrcous advantage will have been gained and the baneficial tffests will j be felt by every owner and occupier of land in , the colony. Evgh assuming that Mr M'Quoen's method is the best in parts of the country near railway communication, it is quite useless in the large tracts of country remote from railways, and the suppression of the pest has always been most difficult in those districts. This is wh»t I should call a very mild criticism of Mr M'Queen's remarks, which, as I have before indicated, I consider quite unsound. In this connection I would call attention to a letter over the name of " Southland Farmer " appearing in this issue, as it ia one of the best deliverances on the subject I have yet seen, and a sound answer to Mr M'Queen, if thoughtful farmers need any argument in that direction. While not prepared to quite agree with " Southland Farmer" on some points — e.g., his views re | netting and the natural enemy — I recoguise in the writer, who is quite unknown to me, one who writes from experience, and whose views are entitled to tlie greatest consideration, as evidently the result of mature deliberation -of the question, and as most ably and clearly set forth. I hope all readers will study this letter. As lo the natural enemy, we may find out yet that his detractors are to a large extent those who don't look upon the rabbit as a natural enemy or pest, but, like Mr M'Queen, as a blessing, and " a young, important, and growing industry." If Government are in any way going to recede from their position and pander to this so-called "growing industry " by relaxing the efforts to copa with the pest as in the past, rabbit-netting would become an absolute necessity to settlers who intend to stick to the older industries of sheep and cattle rather than this younger one of rabbits for export. I am quite hopeful, however, that the Government will firmly pursue their past policy and nob give way to this cry, which is practically one of " protection for the rabbit," as the department know well that the rabbit is a pest and a curse to the country and should receive no quarter. At an interview between the Victorian Minister for Agriculture and representatives of the meat export trade, it was agreed that there should be State supervision and control over all meat exported. They move faster in Australia than we do ; but lam still hopeful that our I Government will faring ' down a scheme for the s»me purpose shortly, and also that it will be

considered and loyally supported aparG iroin politics altogether. Thn erection of » receiving and sorting store at the London docks first, and perhaps afterwards at other British ports, for all New Zealand produce, with proper refrigeration, should form part of any such scheme, for I am more than ever of opinion that any much-needed improvement in the discharging and care of our produce must be done by ourselves. We have waited years for the London \ end of the business to attend to this matter, and we might wait till the middle of next : century without it being dove by thfem. Mr Sfddon, it is also mentioned, is conferring with Mr Chamberlain re improved trade relat tions, whic'a I hope involves the consideration lof something on the lines of an Imperial zollverein, and preference for colonial produce on > the British market. They are alive on thia subject in Canada, and it would be well that 1 New Zealand should wake up en ib. At the great opening of our winter show and Record Reign celebrations, when the Minister for Lands will be present, it would be a fitting time, while assuring Great Britain of our unalterable loyalty to the British throne, to strengthen Mr Seddon's hands by a message conveying our hope that an Impari»l zollveroin should bo brought about ere long. Oar politicians generally are too much taken up with the main political business of New Zealand — viz., the continual squabble to sit on the Government benches. They don't seem to have time to ' consider a great question such ag that which ) seems ever to be uppermost in the minds of ] men like Mr Chamberlain at Home.