STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2302, 14 April 1898, Page 6

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

By DaovEß.

Weekly Stock Seles : In vercargiil, Tuesdays Bnrnside, Wednesdays Monthly: Ashburton, Tuesdays Clinton, Palmerston, Addington, Wednesdays au |j YVmton. Fcrlnightliji ■ Periodically: Balclutba, Fridays Heriot,Kelso, and KyeGore, Tuesdays I burn. Oainaiu, Tuesdays. j lordlallj iurited. All communications to reach VUutii office »ot later than Monday iiictHJ For the last two weeks the cattle yarded at purnside have, considering the large yardings, pet with a fair sale. Our country friends who lisited os during the Jubilee time helped largely to consume butcher's stocke, aud prices consequently have been well maintained/ Prime bullocks (large) are always very saleable at £8 lCs to £9 10s. Lighter beef is in'heavier supply, and prices rule about £7 to £8. , Provided yardings are not excessive I anticipate fair prices and a firm market for good beef right on through the winter. During the pasb two weeks the export demand Cox- muUon has been very Blight, and as the

yardings have beau full prices bave^one back to aboub rates ruling the Wcsek previous to Jubilee — pritneet wether?, 9s 6d co 10s 6J. Ab the sale on the 30th, butchers being out oE supplies bid up well, and prices went; up Is 6d to 2i per head for be3t wethers, but lasb week butchers seemed indifferent, and prices went down Is 6d to 2s. lam of opinion that these who have prime sheep should this year consign and try the Home market, as I sea no adequate reason for export buyera' indifference. Tho fact is some buyers don't find it quite as easy to finance as they used to. Producers with good sheep are in a position to do their own finance, and financial institutions are willing to meet farmers, pret'erriug this class of business to that of backing speculators heavily, as has besn done in the past. There is still a fair demand for export for j prime latnb3, which rule at 9j 6d to 10s for | primest. The sale of these should be made early, as I don't think exporters will operate at j fair prices much longer. By-the-bye, we have ! never heard from any London authorities how the glut of lamb was got rid of last soason. They apparently, it will bs recollected, vanished into thin sir. It was very astonishing : several hundred thousand carcases, too. It ie quite » conundrum, and I hope my good friend Mr Cameron, or Mr T. MackeLzie, willieli us "how it was dono." Westminster Chambers, 13 Victoria street, London, S W., February 25, 1898. Deak Droves,— lv your "Stock and Gcazing Notes " in the Ofcago Witness of January 13 I observe you say, in reference to my auggeation that, fu ordtr to avoid the inference made on the market here that much of, the damage and off-eoiour of New Zealand matfcon is caused by lou<{ storage in the colony, the refrigerating companies should mark on the tag attached to each sheep the date of slaughter, "1 should have thought our New Zealand expert must know that the statement about carcases beinj; long stowed in the colony is another piece of humbug ; and one vrould have thought that he and Messrs Smith, Mackenzie, and the other New Zealand colonists knew enough of the state of mattara in the colony and the rotten state of the cold storage and distribution at Home lo give a complete and satisfactory denial to the statement. But apparently they don't." This is, I think, hardly fair to the gentlemen mentioned, as they being thoroughly convereanb with the state of matters in the colony are aware that olorage of mutton for longer than is absolutely necessary is no!; adopted by the freezing companies there, and they take every opportunity of impressing this fact upon all who ace in any way interested in the subjsofc.

*x£ \V. G. oaiUh, uvSoi'lur>&t(fij, has been in-capacltatc-d for basiue^a for several months by severe illness, but when able there is no one more ready to champion New Zealand interests than he is. But, however much anyone may try by giving o-'phalic denial to reports made, to re&sovo iacomt t and misleading impressions, it is n: t ai wa jg - . • »ihle to do so. The suggestion tl'.at damage to New Z?al&Dd monlca arises frcm l;-.?jffthy sU.vr,}- in '!«■ colony foss gone a very fount Jf c:;i>ar.ce, and is not easily arrested. Wliin * company oE such atanding and of sunn exyerii-uoe in the New Zealand meat trade as the C.C. and D. Co. (Limited) report in their weekly chcular, a copy of which I Rend you herewith, " tixe dried-up, "faded appearance, sometimes accompanied by black niiljevr, can hardly have been the effects of the voyage, r.nd points rathe.)' to lengthen^?, storage j prior to shipment " ; and whan, as is published fn the Canterbury Weekly Press of January 19, p«£e 05, a cablegram dated London, January 13, is sent out to the colony stating : " The j ¥'--i .v Meat Trade Association passed a resoj luic that it is desirable that meat should be i Oiijpul as soon as po?sible after being frozen ; i that the holding of meat before shipment is a fruit- \ fill source of stale condition and consequent low price," aurely the matter ia of the utmost importance to the producers in New Zealand, and worthy of their careful consideration and con- j tradiction ? However ans ; ous their repreeen- < ! latives in this' country may be to do the utmosfc - in the'r behalf, I do certainly think that the ) producer* themselves should do all in their j power to t:d <htse efforts. It is all very well to say that this cry aboub damage from loDg storage is all humbug because it is incorrect.' The producers must do all they can to remove the complaint, and my suggestion, which is nob a new one, as it was brought up at the conference of the joint Agricultural, Pastoral, and Stock Committee in Wellington in 1896, that the date of slaughter should bs marked on the tag that is attached to each aheap would, I contend, considerably help to do this, and its adoption would neither mean expense nor trouble to the refrigerating companies. — I am, &c , H. C. Camebon. My friend Mr Cameron then admits that the cry raised about lorg storage in the colony was all humbug. The worst of *ifc is that" this ■ ''ojroneoug statement was cabled^ out by the asscciation formed bj the men who handle our produce in-LoudoD, and it is evident that, cotwithstanding the denial* of men like Cuuningham Smith, Torn Mackenzie and othors who had knowledge of the business at both ends they still cling to their errors and mis'under- j standings. Mr Cameron's letter proves that i what I said was right — far be it from me to say I an unkind word aboub any of these gentlemen, all of whom I know to ba working hard to enlighten tho ignorance prevailing, but the ignorance is dense, and there are " none so blind aa these who won't see." 1 would particulaily like to say that I know well how the late Mr' Cunningham Smith worked to put matters right, and letters I have seen of his show how he regretted the prevailing state of affairs connected with Gur meatr hnndling snd disltib'jtioa at home.- Had he' bsen spared we should have seen something from his pen regarding these matters in his well-known downright forcible style, which would have shown clearly that the trace is in wrong hands or under wrong control. If the representations of me a who really know are ineffectual to keep the people who control ouc j meat at homo fvoca imbibing wiong ideaa and promulgating them, ib only proves that other steps are needed, and that other control aud' , management are needed. Mr Cameron's suggestion in worthy of consideration, but my anticipation of better things tests upon the hope that the producers here will wake up aad wrest the control from thoye who hold it, and I look forward Lo the efforts of the Christckurch Meat Company, who, I trust, are acting in the producers' iaterest, to alter the present skate of kir'air**, and hope that other fret zinjf companies will follow suit. Nothing could possibly ba worse than what we j have fuff»F6i] and are still suffering. We in tbe colonies are apt to think with something like veneration and awe of the great London men, and that all wisdom aad ability is centred there. Of course to some extent this is justifiable, bub our meat trade has got into the hands of men of certain fixed ideas, and with a single groove of operation*. Their interest mainly ends with 2£ per cent. Producers b.er-3 have everything at stake for good or ill, and they must take the matter in hand. As an instance of ignorance I m*y just mention that when at Home lately a friend of mine who had spent some time in France spoke to a firm in London who prido themseives upon baing the largest importers of New Zealand meat (I need nob mention the name) about pushing New Zealand meat in France. He waa tald very curtly that it had been tried and found impossible. My friend asked how then did France take some 100,000 carcases of Plate mutton that year. They said thsy were not aware that Plate mutton had been imported into France. My friend told them that evidently there were a lot of things they did not know which they should know, and he is still under that impression. The main question is, Whose interest is at stake ? I say the producers first by a long way, and if they don't perceive this I can see no hope of improvement. According to Nelson Brothers' report ab their annual meetiDg the large supply of frozen rabbit is having a detrimental effect on the frozen mutton trade. Their balance-sheet shows the usual debit balance, but bhey^peak hopefully of the future. Personally I doa't'thiuk the sale of frozen rabbits is the cause of low prices in frozen mutton. The rabbit question is receiving great attention in the columns of the Witness and other papars; As yet mainly those interested in the prosperity of the rabbit trade have besn heard, and I admit them to be a large number of people. The question is one of difficulty, and each side holds strong opinions. I regret to see that some of the letters attack tho inspectors in what I consider a most unfair manner, and make statements and insinuations both unkind and unfair. This sort of thing does nob strengthen their arguments— rather the reverse. I believe every fair-minded man deprecates this sort of attack. The inspectors are able, honest men, and by no means " duffers " or " dead brokes," as some . insinuate. They laava a difficult fcaak to

perforai. It seems to me kapugsible to please both parties — those who want rabbits to flourish and those who don't. This sort of attack helps no one adopting it, so I hope it will cease. Let U8 hear both from those who look upon rabbita as a pesfc and those who don't, and I shall be glad of any letters on either aide written for this column. Ife seams to me that the matter resolves itself into this : There are those who prefer the rabbit with us in plentiful supply, bo as to carry on a profitable trade, and there are those who look to wool and mutton as their miinsbay for the future. Both -we cannot have in proper supply and in good order. My suggeotion is : Let the i fencing ordinance be extended so that each landholder may be able to compel his boundary neighbours to erect ab once and pay half cost of adequate rabbit-proof fencing. Farmers might combine and group themselves for this purpose. Those, then, who like tho rabbits could cultivate i them, and I have no doubt there are plenty of ill-managed or poor farms where rabbits will pay better than sheep. For my own part, I beliove the future prosparity of OL&go and i Southland will alwtya mainly resb on good andi plentiful supplies of wool and mutton, cot j rabbita.