STOCK AND GRAZING- NOTES, By DrOver.

Otago Witness, Issue 2516, 4 June 1902, Page 8

STOCK AND GRAZING- NOTES, By DrOver.

Weekly SUck Sales : Fortnightly : l> -j ™r o j Inveicargill, Tuesdays Buruside, Wednesdays AnfaburtoD, Tuesdayi Monthly: Addiogton, Wednesdays Clinton, Palmer«tnn Wintop, and \YV.Fcrtniqhtly: kouaiti Bftlclutha, Fridays Periodically: Gore, Tuesdays Heriot.Kelso, and KyeOamaru, Tuesdays' burm. Nearly 300 head of cattle were yarded last week at Burnside. The bulk of the yarding were, however, merely store cattle, more or less iv forward condition. The market for prime beef was as good as ever, vnd will certainly continue so. Best bullocks brought £9 10s to nearly £11, and any fit at all brought good prices. The demand for store and inferior cattle, however, was not so good as before, and prices were lower than those of die previous week by about 10s per head. Farmers now set some value on any spare feed they have, and inferior cattle ar.l not what they want to use it. About 3600 sheep were yarded, a very large proportion being ewes. A few really prime \vether3 brought over 18s, but the rest were only fair quality, and brought 14s 6cl to 16s 6d ; inferior about 12s to 13s. The bulk of the yarding were ewes. A few prime young brought 15s to 16s, medium 6old at 11s to 14&, and inferior at 8s to 10s ; and good prices, too, for which, I suppose, oui South African trade is responsible. There will doubtless be a shortage of meat at Home, as a considerable portion of the River Plate iteat is now being diverted to South Africa for the War Office contract, the quantity of which for the year will be probably about equal to half the average export from' New Zealand. Then there is the present stoppage of supplies from Australia, and the probability of vt restricted supplies for a long time to come. These are factors which must tend to raise the price of our frozen meat, and there seems to be a good market in prospect for all sheep that will freeze. As we have not got anything like a heavy supply of prime wethers, ewes will have to do : and prices will be good. Our friends the Smithfield salesmen are, at any rate, about the smartest salesmen in the world, and their persuasive powers may even be equal to the task of persuading their customers that old ewes are really very good meat; and so they are. The energies of the salesmen^ will be employed largely in this direction, as the bulk of the supplies are likely to be ewes, and they have got to make tho best of them ; and I have every confidence that they will do so. The outlook is cheering in the meantime. The Addington market last week was brisk. Prime wethers brought up to 19s ; ewes at all fit for freezing went at 10s to 12s, prices being hardly so good as those at Burnside. Feed being none too plentiful, the market foi stores is dull, and prices lower. Some of our southern farmers with a good supply of winter feed might possibly find a visit to Canterbury profitable. The grain market is quiet, but the prospects are good. Wheat is in short supply, and those able to hold will get higher prices. Oats will be dearer. Large supplies, it appears-, must yet bo wanted for Australia, to say nothing of South Africa. The Federal Government will probably abolish for a time the duties on all foddei lines, and large supplies will be required, as Tasmania, hitherto supplying, is about exhausted. Farmers will do well to hold on to their ;haff for a little, and not rash the local market, as they have been inclined to do lately. Good price are, I think, certain in any ca^e, and no good can be doi.e by undue huny to make &ales. The report of the National Daiiy Association, appearing in this issue, is interesting, and, although containing more statistics and figures than usual, will probably bo read by dairymen with benefit. I wish that one could arouse a little ni'»re interest in dairying among our farmers in the South Itland. It is a matter for regret that we are not glowing Of courso other branches of faiming are profitably carried on heie. whilst in tho North Island, especially in fume parts, dairying ii piactically their one and only occupation meantime. I think that the practice of ghing 'ome attention to dairying by all farmers might be more general. A*> noted in the report, this is dono by leading Taiou Lsuasf^ who ku«iy_

well its value. Tlie figures show that we have plenty of room to expand. Our yearly export seems about one fortnight's consumption in Great Britain. But the industry is still, so far as New Zealand is concerned, a veiy important one. The export of .dairy produce, it will be seen, comes well up to that of frozen meat. I shall not be content till we see New Zealand making aa much dairy produce as Great Britain — that is, about seven or eight times more than we are doing. We have the land and thd climate for doing it. No more favoured) land for the purpose exists on the face of the globe. It seems that the more concentrated the form of our exports the better, considering the distance we are from the great markets. Dairying, then, supplies this essential. One thing for congratulation is that we have made a good name, and there is a keen and increasing demand for all out dairy produce. The report, as usual, advocates reciprocity in a tariff between Great Britain and her colonies, and the figures given show how foreign competitors are increasing and putting forward supreme efforts to secure this market. The need for'som© such reforms seems actually pressing. We are proud of our progress in New Zealand, and justly so; but our development is after all small compared with that of other countries. Take Russia, for instance, and let farmers read an article in Cassell's Magazine for February on Siberian development. Think of -5000 miles of railway, including some 300 miles of railway bridges and viaducts, made and opened in eight years; the fares reduced to id per mile, and free to immigrants, 250,000 of whom are yearly pouring i»ito this fertile territory, which we, in common with others, used to look upon as a sort of Arctic region, whereas it is very fertile indeed — a big slice of Asia. Wo. hear talk of Manitoban wheat coming to compete against New Zealand. The day is not far distant when Siberian wheat from Vladivostock will probably be so quoted also. All these things., seem to me to point to the absolute necessity of Britons standing together to hold and develop their own. So the idea of an Imperial zollverein grows upon me as a necessity.