INTERCOLONIAL AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2604, 10 February 1904, Page 17

INTERCOLONIAL AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

(Pastoralists' Review for Tanvary)

NEW SOUTH WAXES

Sydnoy, January IC. Tho present season can be most fittingly de-scribed «3 "exceptional" ; the abundance, of feed and water, the continued rams and the pastoral industries of this State a chance Ito recuperate after their eeven years' struggle with drought. The Government statirftieiau estimates the probable wheat yield for th& whole State at 23,570,000 bushels, as agtunst tho 1,585,097 bushels of last year, and unless anything unforseen occurs it is likely that this estimate will be near tho mark. So far the | yields of the Rivcrina country and the western slopes of tho mountains have been fully up to th© average of the entire Si ate. The above estimates mean an av^ra-jo yield of 19 l-sth bush-els per aero, tho highest ever recorded, and a great contrast to la'-n year, when the yield per acr* was only one and a-quaiter bushels If the abo-\o estimate is correct it will .mean that we shall have 18,500,000 busier available for ~xfc.it At 2e 6d per bi eV-l fa*iiOi» would t''ii« >r- ■ ceivo £5j570j0u0 for tins jeai's ciop This

estimate exceeds previous anticipations and though we occasionally get r&porta of crops so damaged by rain ao to be not R-orth outting, the large- yiflds of other parts and' the deliveries up to date incline ius to think that it is near the mark.

While crops are yet being cm the firet of the season's wheat is already on its way to the great market* of the world. The railways are heavily taxed drawing the grain to the seaport ; every day soes the arrival of several hundred of wheat trucks iv Syd ney. During December the daily average was 200 trucks, equivalent to about 21,000 bag?. The record arrival for any one day, so far, k 490 trucks, or about 35,000 bags. There are seven elevators at Darling Island, which are supposed to unload irut-ks at the rate of seven tons pei minute: yet there are hundreds of trucks waiting ro discharge. The new shed, which is cap' bis of holding 300,000 bags, is divided into seven parts, six of which are leased to the sis largest shippers, while the seventh is re served for smaller exports. At the present moment there are about 70,000 bags in fhs shed.

A large fleet of ships is now busily engaged in loading wheat, and the appearance of Sydney Harbour rather dispels the pre valent idea that the day- of sailing niiip? are done, come magnificent vessels ol tbi' type- being now in port. The Sydney Chamber of Commerce recently discussed the' fixing of the wheat standard for the current year The chair man of the committee urged the necessity for farmers, millers, and dealers interested having absolutely accurate weight, sending in samples of wheat as econ as posofble, camples not to exceed EOlb. The ccu.niuLee tave imported a large machine oiaiiiif to that adopted by the Li\&rpool Corn TriJe Association for fixing the standard. \. portion of each sample will be sealed and retained by the Chamber for 12 months, to be available for reference should any question arise.

Wheat was at its top price du'-inj, January and February, when for prime milling and seed wheats 6s 3d was readiiy obtained. The supply then chiefly came from South. Australia. To-day's ruling price is 2s lid for prime milling. Sales have been made m London for December-January shipireiit* at 29s 3d to 29s 7£d o.i.f. and c.

The ruling price for oats, which duiin& January was 3s lOd, is at present fiom 2l to 2s 2d, and for barley 2» for malting anp 2s 3d for Cape. At the beginning of the year barley was quoted at from 4s 6tf to bs 3d.

On account of the drought a large amovnfc of fodder was imported I&u y».-ar, f>n>i chaff went up to a high price. The highe»t figure, £7 bs per ton, was leached in April, and imported oaten £7. During T&bru&ty straw chaff realisod £5 per ton. L'uirerU values are: Wheaten. :>haH, £3 15s; oateu, £o 10s and £3. There is now no 'liquirv for straw chaff, and with prices at piesent! levels importations have practically csased,

The shearing season is closing with few email sheds on the Southern Alonaro, where operations have been delayed by rain. It is practically certain that there wera loss sheep in the State for sbeanng tin* year than last, but so far returns for six montlis to o"lst December chow an increase of 28,005 bales, which ceitainiy points to a distinctly heavier clip per cheep part of which weight has no doubt beea giesse, as this reason's ohp has been heavily conditioned. The New South Wales wool exports for Dece-nber amounted to 122,737 bales, an increase of 23,14-3 'jn the corresponding month of 1902 The largcrt receivings s>inr»e> tht season opened \veie aur ing the week ended NmeaiD&i 11 when 26,006 bales ccme to hand. The expansion iii our shipments to Europe and other 'ovntrios shows a considerate inrreise, but 5034 cf New South Wale* v.ou' bales less have gone to Victoria, while 3+u'a mere have gone to South Australia. There ran be no question that the. 1903 cirp is ii_alisi:ig well. The top prico for inorino fleeces so far is 14^d, E& eon.piicd with 14-ici and 12jd fo* tho aio prruoding seasons. A>3 regards tho frozen meat trade, this State ulosoa 1903 with a total c\port of

£i'<r,3B2 carcases of mutton, 13,271 carca-e-5

t) r lamb, and 7920 quarters of be-uf, against '^*27,100 carcases of mutton, 29,618 care-dies of lamb, and 10,433 quarters of beef in 19C2. During January 12,279 carcases of mut'cn v/ere expoited, and the drought was at its worst, but the next month levoaled an BUtput of only 100 carcases mutton and 25'] carcases lamb. Sheep were in terrible condition, and the quality much too poor for Export. Rain fell at the end ti .March,

during which only 300 carcases mutton and 'j.200 carcases lamb were export*.*-', but May

responded with an output of 10.571 carcares mutton and 54-5 carcases of iamb, and with the exception of August expon-. inrre-ased vp to the end of the year, when +l-e Novoaifber shipments amounted to 70,!3^7 caicasos mutton and 7476 carcases lamb, and 2% quarters beef.

The prospects for the current yeai in xegard to the frozen meat ti"ad°. are nouo

too bright, and exports for some tune must be small. J7here in such a limited stoo.'c

to draw* ,from,

The quality of the sheep forward su:<"e 'August has been the highest the State ha? E&on, and the resumption of the neat expert trade attracted heavy yarding,s at SJcmebufili till November, when ibe demand for export practically ceased. During December the supplies were the lightest for the whole year.

VICTORIA

Melbourne, January 13

The weather has been very cool throughout the month, unusually so for the timeof year, and there have been several heavy fall' 3of rain. As a consequence the gra»3 as luxuriant everywhere, and in mo=t dis1 riots quite green — 100 much so to burn. The> hay crops have cuffered sevr-reiy, h(-v.-eve-i. A veiy large proportion of the hay gather is discoloured, and soft wheat is f>i<=o the result of the rains.

Stock of all descriptions continues very high in value. Fat sheep and iamb? have risen considerably, and the demand is extremely keen for good lines of .-lo;e .sheep or cattle, with no signs of dimiirutmn The crops generally have been heavy, and al-tlu-ugh so much of the graiu has beC'i damaged by the weather, the yiaW is well up to anticipations with regard to quantity, 'j^he quality of the fat sheep and lambs coming in has fallen off considerably, pa.'rlj owi'" l^ 1:o grass seeds and partly to the longth of 'me grass, which is now too long for sheep io do well on.

Dairying returns have been excellent, the iFiimmer being up to now a prolonged rpiing, and the season will be excendivl beyond n^sual limits. As far as can be oeen, shee-p of all classes muet continue to maintain ■high values for the next year or ro, for wool is firm, and likely to remain co, whilst the demand for fat lambs for w so good that with a certain high return for wool and lambs graziers will go on paying the extreme prices now current for goo:I breeding ewes. In this Stato the run is inoetly on good crossbred ewes, though the northern buyers are giving big prices for young cull ewes and aged sin-op f>om the ■Western district flocks with which to breod vy afresh.

The improvement in the wheat markol in London would have been a gi'oai. bojn considering the largo surplus that wiH be nvailable for export, but, uufoi Innately,

the rise was not sustained. A fair proportion of the wheat already shipped has been prime, but there- must necestsarily be a large> quantity injured by the weather. The recovery of pastures supposed to have been uttea-ly destroyed, by the drought has 1/een wonderful, and windswept ara-as that were not expected to recover for years are now clothed with grasses and herbage. The butter export for 1903 runs into 28,000,0001bs valued at £1,270,000. as against 15,000,0001b, valued at £684,000, in 1902: in other words, it ie about double. When the season's, as distinct from tne calendar, returns come to bo made up, ie will bo found that the present season" >> return a good deal more than doubles that of last year.