STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2429, 3 October 1900, Page 6

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

By Dbovbb.

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Weekly Stock Sales : Fortnightly : Invercargill, Tuesdays Burnsiee, Wednesdays , r .. , Ashburton, Tuesdays Monthly: Addington, Wednesdays Clinton, Palmerstoa and Winton. Fortnightly : Waikouaiti Balclutha riday3 > Periodically: Gore, Tuesdays Heriot.Kelso, and Kye« Osmaru, Tuesdays burn.

The cattle sale at Burnside waS, again a brisk one, with high prices ruling/,, 1 Tho feature of the market was, in my opinion^ the fine draft of 'heifers from, Gladbrook' which brought from £10 to £11 10s. ' These were as prime meat as the most fastidious London butcher could desire.. .Another very prime lot of bullocks weie those from Mr, R. Wood, Beaumont, nothing equal to theiri having been seen at Burnside for some time past. These bullocks brought" £12 to £12 10s. Prices in London of New Zealand! frozen beef keep up, and the following extract trom a late London report indicates the prospect ot even higher prices: —

Latest advices from the States tell of the higher values ruling for beeves. Last week in Chicago .prices touched the highest figura since early in the spring, there being, an active trade for best fat beasts, while for plainer grades there was a brisk demand by; packers, United States Government being in the market ft>r very laige quantities of canned goods for use in the Philippines, and perhaps also in China. Great Britain has also placed! large ordera, and others from Germany seen* probable if a pactific settlement is not soon come to in the East, and large armies are found necessary to bring it about. China has an unlimited supply of both cattle and sheep to draw on, and beef and mutton, in. ordinary times, are low priced, but with tho prevalence of di?oaFo_ amongst cattlo that exists, thd.nati.ve supply might at any time be cut off and recourse to nreserved meat com-

pelled. Rinderpest is endemic in China and there is reason to believe that originating there it spread through Asia to Europe, as in more recent years it certainly did to the Straits, Java, Ceylon, and very probably to Africa. There has been an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Yorkshire, followed by another in North Wales. In both cases the Board of Agriculture took very prompt measures, far" more drastic than, .any previously attempted. All the animals on the farms, cattle, sheep, and swine were slaughtered, the bodies buried, slaughtermen and attendants disinfected, and their clothes burnt; these precautions so far seem to be effectual for no further spread is reported.

Nearly L; 00 sheep were yarded, a large portion of them very prime indeed. Extra prime heavy wethers brought up to 225; prime freezers, moderate weights, 18s to 19s. It is evident from the following report that the heavy weight of our sheep is now telling against us, and though high prices rule at present we are not doing much to meet -the requirements of our market in the future, and! " we shall suffer for this later on. From all I can gather from recent reports River Plate meat is gaining on us.

A friend in London, writing me by the 'Frisco mail, sends a quotation from Weddel's report of August 24, as follows: —

Provincial Markets. — Taken as a whole trade throughout the provinces has bean dull during the past two weeks. New Zealand mutton has been almost unsaleable, despite the low rates now quoted. .Small lots of light-weight Australian andjjivcr Plate sheep have gono into consumption, but other classes are still being neglected. Light weight lambs are in fail demand,- but large carcases are not wanted. Sales of beef have been fairly numerous at fully last quotations.

My friend, commenting on this, says: — • "What's the use of our friend, Tom Mackenzie, and others talking so strongly at the late conference about opening up Japan and. other foreign countries for our New Zealand mutton when they close their eyes to the enormous field still neglected in the provincial districts of this country?" Mr H. C* Cameron has for years drawn attention to this neglect of one of the best outlets we have, but farmers here seem to have little interest in tha matter. Most of the men who go Horns from here to study this meat market confine their inquiries to the London market merely, and seem to have no idea of any market outside of London, whereas the main consumers of our meat and produce are in the Midland and northern counties— the great manufacturing districts, in fact. The River Plate organisation have always recognised this, and up to date have the market practically to themselves. The main buyers of our butter and cheese, both last year and this, have been Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff, Glasgow, and other provincial houses. The day will yet come, I think, when we shall have direct trade with Liverpool, and the sooner the better. In shipping and discharging Liverpool is far ahead of London. The vexatious delays in discharging in the London docks affect our meat and produce trade badly. A captain of long experience told me once that at Liverpool they could discharge and load a steamer! while London was taking the hatches- off. .

The following from Weddel's annual report deals with the question of the alleged' growing inferiority of Australasian bultor. It is a pity the report deals with Australasian 1 , and not simply Australian, because wMs&

Australian butter seems to have gradually got worse., New Zealand has, as even this report shows; steadily improved. There hos always been a tendency among London men to mix New Zealand up with Australia. We havo much to gain by maintaining our individuality at all times "and in all branches of the export trade: — Among agents, various reasons are advanced to explain these facts, the principal being that Australasian butter is not so good as it was, while Danish is getting better. Anyone well acquainted, however, with both butters, knows this is not so. Australasian butter gets better every year, and is now so close in its intrinsic merits to Danish that very large quantities of it are retailed at the same price. That some of the Australian brands suffered from fishiness this season, and that this particular flavour much reduced the value of those brands is true. . In New Zealand butter, for example, fishiness is almost unknown, and it is recognised by everybody that JNew Zealand Butter has improved year by year, tmtil it is pressing Danish- -very hare, m-the matter of quality. . The principal reason, however, for the temporary increased disparity in price-3 during the season 189a-IbUU was the diminished supply of Danish, and the greatly increased quantity cf Australasian butter on the market. The following table is interest^ as showing the small part New Zealand as yet plays in this market ; but as years go on this will certainly be no longer the case: —

' Bui^i-.— The 'anticipation expressed in our last review that the supplies of Australasian butter would be considerably larger during the season IS9S-1900 has been more than justified. It would be almost unreasonable to expect an equal increase in the coming saason, but still there is every appearance of a large augmentation in the supplies during bite season 1900-1.

The Canadian supply most probably will show another large development, but it is unlikely that the United Slates will supply more than they have done in the past season. From the-sContinent of Europe larger imports aye almost certain to come, as owing to the drought and heat which existed during the latter half of 1899, tlie Continent production was very largely restricted, ana the imports from this source alone, during the year ended 30th June, were reduced by 8000 tons. In the ordinary course of things, therefore, an augmented supply may be expected during the coming season. In regard to the production of butter in the United Kingdom,- a moderate incrscse may be anticipated. Cheese. — The manufacture of cheese diiring the past two seasons has proved more profitable than the making of butter, and as there appears a reasonable prospect of this state of things continuing during another season, the supply 'of cheese is likely to be enlarged, especially if the weather for the remainder of the cheese season continues favourable for its manufacture.

General. — -Although there are indications thai the prosperity of the country is likely_ to be advordely affected by the wars in South 'Africa, and China it is doubtful if the decline will be serious. Whether the value ,oi dairy produce will next season show a higher level than in 1899-1900 depends largely upon the sunply, v/hich at the present moment looks' asif it would be much greater than in the sea.son just closed.

My own opinion' is that the market will be good, and fully equal to last year both in butter and cheese.

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