STOOK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2545, 24 December 1902, Page 16

STOOK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Bt Daotxb. KeeUy Stock Sales : Fortnightly : ,„ . , InvercargUl, Tuesdays Burnude, Wednesdays " iahburton, Tuesdays Monthly: Addington, Wednesdays Clinton, PalmerstoD, Winton, and "WaiFcrtniqhtly: kouaiti fealclutha, Fridays Periodically: Bore, Tuesdays Heriot.Kelso, and KyeBamaru, Tuesdays burn. About 160 head of cattle were yarded last Jtreek, among them some prime, heavyjweight bullocks, which butchers bid briskly: lor. These realised £I' 4 10s 4o over £16; (ordinary prime bullocks brought £12 to £13 ; medium, £9 to £10 10s; light, £7 to £8; feood cows and heifers, £9 to £10 10s ; light and .medium. £6 to £7 10s. Butchers were buying for Christmas trade, and the market *vas a decided improvement on that of the previous week. In the North Island buyers ■oi South Africa are active, taking all they •can get of second-class beef, as well as Borne prime. In the meaniime, they confine their operations to the North Island, prices Jhere being beyond them. Later they may liave tc come on this market, and so the •prospects ior fair prices for cattle are good.

- About 1200 ■sheep were yarded, and '.only butchers were operating, prices were not tip to those ruling during the previous two weeks. Prime shorn wethers brought 19s if 22e; good," 16s to 18s; prime shorn ewes, 18a to 80s; light to good, 13s to

The freezing works will not open again till some time after the New Year, and only small yardings are needful if prices are to be maintained. Owing tc the approach of Christmas, the 700 lambs met a good market. Prime, of which there were but a few, brought 14s to 14s 9d; good, 12s to 13s; light and medium, 8s to 11s. At Addington prime freezing wethers brought 18s to 20s ; prime, heavy sheep, up to 26"3 : other sheep, about on a par with Burnside rates. Lambs were eagerly competed for by export buyers and butchers also, and about 1700 were sold at from 12s to 163 6d, any prime bringing about 15s to 16s. The store sheep market was strong, and nearly 4000 were sold: — Shorn wether 3, 13s to 14s ; shorn hoggets, 12s to 13s; ewes and lambs, all counted, 9» to 12s.

' Mr A% W. Pearse, of Sydney, in a letter to the Witness last week gives us New Zealanders the benefit of his advice. I cannot say that hia letter impresses me at all, nor do I consider him at all an authority on the subjects he deals with. (1) He says that "Government management of every department it takes in hand has been a failure in all the Australian colonies." This may be time of Australia, but not so, I am sure, in New Zealand. (2) He says "this Government interference means checking private enterprise and driving money out of the colony." So far from this being so in New Zealand, the very reverse has been the case. Take for instance our dairy produce trade. The result of the Government work in grading and instructing is that for every one London buyer we had before we have at least 20 now, and if outside capital were needed to assist us in extending our manufacture there is no lack of offers. But. happily, we are able to do without it for this purpose, and there is no factory in need of it. The same may be •aid of g&ber branches of our exuort trade.

which Government have helped to improve' and develop by their legislation, and by ! what Mr Pearse is pleased t<. term, '"interference." (3) He tells us that the prosecution .of-Eng-lish butchers by our Government for fraudulently . selling River Plate and other meat as New Zealand has prevented many of •them dealing in New Zealand meat at all. I commend our Government for having .done so, and of such butchers I say we can afford to do without them. Some of our leading men think it good policy to wink at this sort of thing, but I see nothing good to be gained by such frauds. , (4) He says Argentine meat is as good as New Zealand. If so, why does New Zealand always bring more money by at least id per pound? Mr Pearse talks of evidence given before the commission lately that would prove this, but says it was sup.pressed aud not published. Now, I have seen one who knows all about what evidence was given, and he knew nothing of this matter that Mr Pearse professes to be cognisant of. I may just «say here that the price got by the Argentine meat grower is small, and not anything like what it should be, as the freezing companies there have . a p monopoly, and use it for their own ends, and to the detriment of the grower. (5) Mr Pearse also says droughts in Argentine are unknown (as they know them in Australia), floods no worse than in New Zealand and elsewhere, and that foot-rot and scab don't. affect the profits stockowners are making. Now, floods such as occur" in Argentine cannot take place here, and they are often serious there, as anyone who reads the papeiscan see. Scab and^ foot-rot. .must 1 affect the profitr ofi etocktowners to ' a very . serious extent, and anyone who talks this way, -particularly about..scab, knows absolutely nothing about the subject. " Scab in sheep we once -knew in New Zealand, many years ago, and it .ruined many a -good. man with" first-class country, and would do so in any -country. May we never' see it again in New Zealand. (6) Mr Pearse then tells us-of an old New Zealander who was /naking 18 pel cent, on his station in Argentine. I am so glad to hear of this, and hopo this > old friend made up his books carefully, for if so he is a good example to New Zealand farmers, the most of ■ whom, I am afraid, don't do as munh as they should in the book-keeping line In fact, Mi Psarse's statement on this point is so exnet aud so surprising in an old New Zealander that I can hardly quite swallow the statement in its entirety. However, I am quite suro that 10 per cent, can be made in New Zealand, and, personally, I would content myself with this rather than go to a country where you might be pilled with a revolver by a cowboy any day, the extra per c< nt. not being sufficient inducement to change New Zealand for Argentine. (7) Mr Pearse then alludes to the great wheat growing facilities in Argentine. Nb <loubt it is, and will continue to be, a great wheat-growing country, but insect pests must always abound there, and caus.e serious trouble. Much of the flat alluvial land is a!eo subject to flood. (8) Mr Pearse then kindly- tells us what we have to do to face the. opposition of] our rival — viz., insist on less Government inter-, ference, fewer inspectors, lower freights,, less debt and taxation. He tells us that money is being withdrawn from New Zealand, and that Canada and the Argentine are the favourites with London investors. I should like to see less taxation in New Zealand — freetrade, in fact (I hope Mr Pearee preaches this at home in Sydney) ; but the fact is that New Zealand producers, by their superior 'knowledge and higher class labour, together with grand climatic conditions, will continue to survive and keep on top. We are not subject to heavy export duties on produce, nor as y&t are we subject to the control of great monopolies which run the meat and other export trades elsewhere.

I cannot quite ..nake :>ut the motivt of Mr Pearse's letter. If it was intended as an attack on our Government, then I must say he has chosen to attack them on what most of us consider a strong point. They have their weak points, no doubt, but what Mr Pearse attacks is not by any means one of these, but the reverse. Mr Pearse may go to Argentine ; nothing he has said would induce me to leave New Zealand to go there. The floods he mentions may induce Australians to try-their luck there. lam afraid Mr Pearse has been misinformed when visiting New Zealand. Probably ho met a few crbakers at the club who are growling at this oi any other Government, having nothing else to do. His impressions cannot have been gained by any intercourse with the prosperou settlers, large and small, of New Zealand. I am not one of those who attribute New Zealand's prosperity to our Government, and by no means do I hold with the gentleman at Mosgiel who, when proposing the toast of the Government at a convivial meeting (I think it must have been late in the evening), said, "Gentlemen, did we ever have such good harvests under any other Government?" But I do give the Government credit for much That they have dove, and tried to do, in the interests of the development of our export trade on sound lines, and I for one will be glad to hce> them take a hand in putting our meat traciA on better linc^. c<j outratLue with conic

of our f armors in the matter. Would-l>e| monopolists, and possibly, some of our meat, companies, will run ariy r sucK" Eoh'eme down, but, given the co-operation in any such scheme of our leading farmers^ much- good might, I am convinced, be done. Dear Drover, — In looking over th© handling of the dairy produce that has been exported I find there has been classed as ■third-grade cheese to London .. „ 131 cases. to colonies ._ u ... 225 cases. Total .. .. 357 cases, and of butter to London.. .. 327 cases, to colonies .. .. 48 cases. Total .. .. 375 cases. Seeing that we are most anxious to keep ' up our name in the markets of the world, would it not be much better to condemn all that is marked third grade, and not allow it To be sent out of New Zealand under the name of butter or cheese? I am with Mr Kinsella in the remarks he makes — viz., "That we should brace our- j selves up, as there is about to be a struggle , for tho top make all over the world — the only chance we have is by having the very best that can be produced to send out of New Zealand." I am sorry to see that cheese making is being given up to such an extent. It lias been a big loss this season tc New Zealand, and from all accounts we , see such as is the case in. other parts of the-,, world, as butter-, seems about the only thing "■ - that is gon€ into. — I am, 'etc.", „ . ' * John Stevenson, **•> , ' i The -following- extracts fom -Weddel's re- i port of November -14- are of • interest: t ' j Re tlie Victoria^ She -did not 'carry re-! frigerated- cargo "because there, was .none at y the- time to- send-' Victorians were then'tray-.-' ing butter at lid and over, and storing it for future requirements locally. About • 2000 • tions are now stored in Melbourne. *As I anticipated, there is a very firm market now j for both cheese and butter, and I anticipate '■ a further rise in London prices : — The Victoria, a new steamer belonging to the , Orient Pacific Co., left Melbourne this week with no butter on board, as she does not carry refrigerated cargo. The Itirautaka has left New Zealand with about 7300cwts, and is due to arrive here on December 12. It is possible, therefore, to compare the total shipment of Australasian butter to arrive this year before Christmas with that of last season. The total to arrive from' Australia this year will be , 2720cwts, and the total from New Zealand 12,335cwt5. Last year the arrivals of Australiar butter before Christmas were 63,190cwt5, »nd from New Zealand 19,019cwts, making a total of 82,209cwt5. Thus the total deficiency this year, compared with last, which was exceptionally small, will be 134,303 boxes. Some of the New Zealand butter ex Whakatane was put into cold store, but that which was sold made from 112 ato 116s per hundredweight. After- remaining at 101 kroner for seven weeks, tlio Copenhagen official quotation has been reduced to 99 kroner, which will do something to bring the quotation to a parity with landed prices. It is a 'pity this reduction was not made a. month ago; A furthsr Teduction • of another two kroner next week would place the quotation on a solid, basis-- t-Thet -The market was commencing to harden for all classes of butier, and the lowering of -the quotation ought jiot to*interfere "with the improving tone, as it was quite out of touch with landed market prices. The 'long run of weeks~in which, the imports of butter have exceeded those of last year appears to have ended, and deficiencies week by week are likely to ensue. Russian, imports are reported to be nearly exhausted, , and a glance at the table on the last page of ; this report shows that the total import of butter ior the last four months has been — July, 435,627cwt5; August, 381,321cwt5; September, 339,697cwt5; and October, 317,057cwt5. The ' Danish import for October was 40,500cwts, less than for July, and the Russian decrease in the same month was Canadian, French, and Dutch show virtually no decreases. ! . The total import of Continental butter in Octo- > ber was smaller by over 36,000cwts than any monthly import since last April. Cheese. — The increase of 3s •to 4s per liun- , dredweight which has taken place this week in , Canadian cheese is most unusual for Novem- ' ber. and not for many years has Canadian made 60s during this month. This increase must cause 'such a rise in the retail price as , will restrict consumption. In London there is ! a solid 59s market, with an occasional 60s for choicest Canadian, with 56s to 57s for second- , 1 ary qualities. In Canadian markets 60s rules j ' strongly. j i