STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2650, 28 December 1904, Page 7

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

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Weekly Stock Sales : Fortnightly : Bjrnside, "Wednesdays InvercargH, Tuesdays A shburton, Tuesdays Monthly : Addington,Wedne*day> Clinton> p^mei-tor, Fortnightly: Wintop, and Vf*iBalclutha, Fridays kouaiti. Gore, Tuesdays Periodically I Ouniaru, Tuesdays Heriot, Kelso, and Kye | - _ burs. j At Burnside last week the cattle market I was dull, the yarding consisting mainly of medium and light cattle. Prime heavy bullocks brought £1C to £11 10s; medium j to good, £7 10s to £9 10s; cows, from £4- 10s to £7 10s. Butchers are well sup : plied, and the mafket shows signs of a lowering of prices- shortly. About 1800 sheep were yarded, and prices were lower than those of the previous week, more particularly for lower qualities. Best wethers brought 21s to 23s 6d ; medium to good, 18s to 20s ; prime ewes, 20s to 235 ; ordinary, 16s to 18s. m dome 800 lambs were sold at about 12s 6d to 17s 6d, for Christmas trade. At this time of the year the public consumption runs more on lamb than on mutton. At Addington beef was in over supply, and prices eased considerably, many lines lemainiug unsold. One pound to 23s may be quoted as the nominal price in Canterbury, -nith a decided tendency to come lower. A large number of store cattle were on ofter, but most remained unsold, vendors' ideas of value feeing far beyond those of buyers. The sheep market was largely supplied. Prime sold at rates not beyond those of Burnside, but old ewes and inferior sheep were lower. Quality considered, lambs ruled about the same as at Burnside. Prices were mainly maintained by export buyers compelled to fill space engaged in the Gothic. The prices they gave will not leave them with much in hand, and I doubt if they -will see their own money. The Nairn&hire took 50,000 carcases of lamb from Adelaide last month, and shipments this season will reach 200.000 carcases, and in a year or =o they hope to export half a million. . New South Wales has sent 80,710 carcases; Victoria, 159,583; Queensl land 1 , about 4COO. So we must recognise j the fact that Australia is making a fair start in the lamb trade. This is only a beginning, however. New Zealand is not going to have a walk-over in the frozen lamb trac3a, as some people had thought. , This is a good year for the Australian start, i as New Zealand will probably be in comparatively short supply. Ou- Dairy Commissioner, reappointed about 12 months ago, has now returned to the colony, and I notice that the "Wellington Trade Review hopes that the extended tour he has made will be of benefit to New Zealand, and I have no doubt it will, as he n a keen observer, and would "tak' " a note of anything of value to New Zealand. The Trade Review also hopes that "the time he has spent on his travels has tended to bioadcn his -views of the commercial a-spect i of the industry, which ha* become so impoitant to this colony." lam not aware that Mr Kinsella ever had any contracted view of the commercial aspect of the industry. Far fiom it: he was always keeping this in view in all he did. I think I know, however, what the Trade Review means, and it is., shortly, this : That Mr Kinsella will alter the view he. in common with the dairy factories, has always taken on the branding question, as against a fpw men in Wellington with strong commercial internets, and, solely for their own benefit, calling ihpmwlvos the Produce Committee of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, who take a different view, and want to upset the branding regulations, and have brands of their own for export, enabling them to brand any butter from any factory they may buy with their own particular brand. Some time ago I mentioned that thc^c gentlemen we-re approaching the Industries and Commerce Department to secure their aims and ends, as they had been refused any encouragement by the Acting-dairy Commissioner and the Agricultural Department. I trust Mr Kinsella wiil hod be led to depart from the stand he has always taken on this subject. The conditions are the same as ever, and it is even more important now than ever before that each factory should sell and export on its own brandi only. Let Mr

Kinselia study the evidence on the Victorian Butter Commission, and he will be proud, I think, that he took the stand he did previously. I am convinced that ha will have the unanimous support of both ' Dairy Associations. The Victorian factories were brought to the verge of ruin by the same system that the commercial element in Wellington now clamours for. I never drop into poetry myself, but this is 'how tha farm poet of the Sydney Daily Telegraph deals with the smart men of Sydney who had brands of their own: — For politics I care not, I'll admit without re°ret But Im all there on butter— l'm a business man, you bet. I watch the prices moving fast like shots from catapults, And mix the brands and qualities to get the best results. And so, you s£e, no matter what the other fellow's at, "Whatever happens elsewhere, I grow happy strong and fat, ' For I've learnt a useful lesson from my boxes and my brands, And the fool may lift his eyebrows, but the wise rns> j unders aiids — You must mix 'em, mix 'em, mix 'em up with care, You must get the marks "nd labels upside do-wn, Till the foreman is dumbfounded, and th« expert's in despair ; But the whacking cheque is waiting up in town. And so I do not care a piD for Croker oi fcf Crowe, But forward on my destined patkvto fortune still I go, Well knowing that the wide, wide world, from Polar cap to line, Is full of goods gone bad, although they're labelled "extra fine." For disillusion waits on him of high or low degree "Who tries to find reality behind what seems to be. So if my business methods to a jury e'er are , told, , I'll whisper to any counsel, and mv little plan unfold— And he'll mix 'em, mix 'eni, mix 'em up with care; Yes, he'll ruucdle 'em with blatherskite and bluff; And they'll' label me "not guilty" — for the palm you'll always bear If you only can just mix things up enough. Is this, then, the "commercial aspect" which the Trade Review is concerned about? Already there are a lot of "bogus brands" in u»e among both merchants and retailers, who put up buttYr — good, bad, or indifferent — from various factories or individuals, and brand it "Golden this or Golden that," or some other fancy name. This butter is not allowed to be exported under these brands, although these "bogus brand"' people badly want to do so. It already has a bad effect. For instance, in Christchurch a lot of this butter comes from North Island factories, and is sold under these bogus brands at lower rate 3 than the local makes. This does harm to the local factory, and the North Island factories suffer also, as even although their butter is tip-top quality, they never get the-benefit, their brand remaining unknown. The whole tendency of this use of bogus brand's is to bring prices down, and is never beneficial to factories, but throws them completely into the hands of a few merchants, who. in the long run, fatten at their expense (vide the Butter Commission in Victoria). The fact is, the game is up for these men in Victoria, and now they are going to try it on through friends in New Zealand. I trust that the Dairy Commissioner will take sides, as before, with the producers, as represented by the National Dairy Asociation of both islands, and prevent our export branding being tampered with, and will also do something to stop the sale of bogus brands in retail shops, for it is a fraud on the public and a I°=« to every factory and dairyman in Ne^v Ze*Js land. j One of the principal recommendations ' made by the Butter Commission in Victoria reads as follows: — "Brands: The number of brands to be used by any one factory should not exceed two — one for export and one for local. Local butter should be clearly marked to show it is not for export." And this recommendation is made in the face of the commercial element, who, as in Wellington, have done their best to uphold their own views. Victorian dairy factories, however, have learnt by experience that o'ie-factory-one-brand is the beet policy, and 1 hope New Zealand producers , will be firm.

In \iew of what we halve to compete against in the London market. I hope that all factories and dairymen will urge their mombcis of Parliament to do what they can to ge-fc freights reduced, cither by Government =übsidy or some other means. Denmark gets her butter carried to London for 25s per ton ; Siberian is shipped from Kiga to London for 24s a ton ; New Zeallaud pays about £7 per ton for butter and about £6 per ton for cheese : Canadian gets from many miles inland to London iot about 22s per ton. Tr i-> a '■ •• - 'iruirlieap for New Zealand.

The Imperial Brass Sprat Pump: "With Stream and Fine Spray Nozzle.— Made hj American noted manufacturers. Are obtainable from Kimmo and Blaib, Dunedin. Fruit* I growers and Qrchardists should use them.