OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET.

Otago Witness, Issue 3611, 29 May 1923, Page 15

OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET.

(F«om Ooh Own Correspondent.) WONDERFULLY MILD WEATHER. T 0 sav the least, the weather at the present tune in Canterbury is unseasonable The days of late have been more_ like balmy weather of October than of the latter days of May. For some time Canterbury has had a nor’west arch and there were nor' -west showers that reached almost down to the coastline. The warm winds have shifted a large amount of the snow on the ranges, and there were some freshes in the rivers, but the melting was fairly gradual, and the rivers have been on their best, behaviour. The drying winds have worked a wonderful change in 'he country, and it is now possible to work land that looked hopeless for the winter a week or ten davs ago. Potato digging has been made possible on all but the lowest lying land, and growers are keenly anxious to get their tubers out, for the market has been a rather excited one since the flood, and it is difficult to estimate with any degree of exactitude the amount of damage. 'The probability is that the greatest damage is in regard to the effect the soaking will have upon keeping qualities of the potatoes. PROTECTION WA NT ED. The cocksfoot growers of Banks Peninsula are seeking protection for their industry, and they are asking that an import duty should be placed on all imported cocksfootseed. A speaker that waited on the Canterbury Members of Parliament the other day said that at the present time cocksfoot is being grown on the Peninsula at a loss He instanced many cases where preferential import duties were imposed upon imported commodities such as timlier, wheat, etc., and asked that the cocksfoot-growing industry that was responsible for the employment of a large amount of labour should receive some protection. The present overhead charges on the Peninsula were heavy.

The urgency of the position was illustrated by the fact that one grower had asked the speaker if there, was any probability of the duty suggested being imposed by September next. If it were not imposed by then the growing of the seed would practically cease. The view of the Agricultural Department is that the imposition of a duty would not be in the interests of the general body of fanners of the Dominion, and the Minister of Customs some time ago, in consequence of this opinion, shelved a request for protection. MEAT PRICES FALL. ' It must be a source of grief to the men that have fat cattle on hand and have not the feed to hold them that the market eacn wee,v shows a weakening in value. Fat cattle are lower in price now than at any time since the slump, accepting the price that ruled on Wednesday at Addington as the market value for the time being. The •tact that only one consignment touched £l3 illustrates what the market was like, and klj $? ps -7°M"'°„P ther lots made £l2 5s and £l2 7s 6d. These were the only three pens that made prices of £l2 or over Unfortunately the market is over-supplied, and there has been considerable private buying h y Christchurch butchers of beef and these facts depress the market. The Slaughterings at the Christchurch abattoir 307 hear'T aUle a month ’ -d -hen 500 hear a week is exceeded at Addington the market usually sags, to the detriment vi'/l i ve . ,ldor - So ,me of the butchers of ’?T townships draw their supplies of beef from the Addington yards but the purchases that users of the ‘city ’abattoirs make outside the saleyards about counterYa a rd nCC f lh Vir nber boUfc,ht fro "> saleyaids tor killing at country slaughterTsHn!?' „ i O, ' e o V3S ? consignment of North Island cattle offered and they were .rood m a a S 2ier Ca Ule Sent ’ ,OWn by a Wairarapa f/f l; .After paying expenses of trucking the 70 miles from Masterton, freight from Wellington to Lyttelton, an,] the railage again from Lyttelton to Addington besides commission and the usual handling charges ® 18 two Ports, the cheque that would accompany the account sales would not occasion the vendor much joy. However be probabilities are that the' market will not always be like it has been in the -reMfo i WG f kS - , T u 'he spring the chances t 1 f ef "T 11 be worth double what it is to-day, for there is no wealth of feed fat catUe tn F S T' Pply with tyt cattle. Tor 14 steers of the Wairarapa In.e mentioned the price would not work out at more than 255. and Iho choicest of the Canterbury cattle would not have cod the buyers more than 26s a 1001 b The northern cat He sold at from £9 5s to £l2 7s 6.1 Sir George Clifford (Stonvhurst) reThn u ° n \ £l2 2s M to Ss for sk Altogether it was a wretched sale for the a’feimhe ' PT , f, ' eczin,T company bought 19s a fell, ° i,gl " natt,P al 17s to T! • A f, TT!F ,T rT OF MUTTON B is rather difficult to account for such at “the 0 \ n n y " lutton that came forward a\ ei age for this season of the year Pm bably graziers have been sending t , °j freely in anticipation that the° f olwurd season will not last much' longer Mmo T 12 races were yarded -mrl <\ ° * Utmost generally of fair quality d Anu Utt °V \ vas freezing buyers were era tinv i gh th , e some discrimination and £ 'l-mf 8 , 7 th marked preference for .sheep' that cfe ■ “ s,™' ™£,r,°„id r- ~ “i----forward wethers loot- r m day t° r a f ‘Ss.rTt rfSHI In (ho store pens wethers (hat „ i particularly forward sold 'at 25, lid Th beast pen of fat welhers made 39s Id h ■ sold on account of Mr J F ™ & bei, f bfS y'',f s'-'«! ii™™ by Mr J. H James (Amberlev), who re ce.ved from 30s fid to 38s 3d. A pe„ of 24 made the top price. Wether mutton soul on a basis of 6'-d for the best with the inferior sorts down to sd. The inferior ewes at times were not better than 3'd. firming for lambs j A marked keenness to buy lambs was noticeable on Wednesday, which lends colour to the suggestion that some o the traders have bee,, unable to till contracts and wore anxious to cover. Sales worn i f asle . r }°, make, and on occasions 9'd was touched for the best of the yarding which M W w“wr f Z th :-. i enr ' of the season. Mi U. Wilkie (Omihi) topped the sale receiving from 26s 4d to 35s 4d for a truck oi oZ. j Several Otago lines of store sheep were i yarded, and they made fair prices except for some aged wethers, which were not wanted.