CANTERBURY BUDGET.

Otago Witness, Issue 3890, 2 October 1928, Page 23

CANTERBURY BUDGET.

(From Odr Own Correspondent.) VERY CHANGEABLE WEATHER. The month of September, in the latter part at least, has done something to keep up its reputation for catchy weather. The week just gone' by was very changeable, with sudden storms from the south-west and bitterly easterly winds and even cold winds from the north-west. The growth consequently has had a noticeable check, for there have been a couple of really heavy frosts besides the winds. STOCK MARKETS LESS BUOYANT. f During the past week the stock markets were not as buoyant as was the case in the month preceding. There are quite a number of causes for the hesitancy whicn marked the sales, and more particularly that at the Metropolitan yards on Wednesday. " For the first thing the very variable weather experienced has had the effect of checking the growth, and then the market reports from the wool centres have not been as reassuring as they were. Feed has certainly not been as plentiful, and the more or less continuous winds have played-their part in the appearance of stock. When shearing is at hand and there are a few farmers at work with dry sheep in spite of the very catchy weather, it is usual that the supply of dry sheep at the saleyards becomes very small. In fact, September often brings the smallest entries of the year at Addington, and on Wednesday the ewes and lambs were more numerous than the wethers and hogget lines. Very few drafts of good sheep of any of the classes were on offer. Although the attendance of fanners was quite good, the bidding was listless, and the hoggets especially failed to make the figures paid for them a couple of weeks earlier. Odd pens which had been in the sale a week earlier, and some which had been bought at country auctions were hard put to quit at from Is to 2s less than had been paid a week or two earlier. If there, was a class of store sheep which brought forth a little bright competition it was the shorn wethers. These sold with some readiness. One line of good sheep, four, six, and eight-tooths, and five trucks in-the lot, sold in runs at 25s to 25s Bd. For a halfbred line in the wool there was 34s lOd, and they did not seem so dear in comparison with some of the sales which havfe been made lately. For the best of the ewes and lambs 23s to 24s 6d have been the ruling prices, and at these figures the ewes have been uncertain in age. but were mostly in good condition with forward lambs. The more backward sorts were much harder to sell than they have been. As might be expected after the winter experienced, there is plenty of mutton coming into the saleyards, and this week the light classes were selling a little easidf - ,. though the best of the sheep kept up well. Wethers out of the wool soil! well, the best of them bringing 36s 4d. DUMPING OF SHEEP. Australian breeders of sheep have lately’ been perturbed by the’ importation into Australia of inferior sheep from the Dominion. The message published this week from Sydney states that the Stock Department intends taking drastic action against the importation of stud sheep of inferior quality. The authorities on the other side of the Tasman have been in communication with the Minister of Agriculture in the Dominion in regard to this question, and he has stated that steps will be taken to remove the cause of complaint. The Australians have suggested that there should be an export tax of £2 2s a head on sheep leaving the Dominion, with the idea that it would not pay a breeddr to send away scrub animals. This is a slight variation from the proposal recently made by an Australian organisation of sheep men, but an import duty should be levied on sheep from New Zealand. The position is one which will be closely watched by sheep breeders in New Zealand, for though it is true occasional lots of sheep have been sent to Australia which were hardly creditable to the Dominion, it seems that the Australians are anxious to secure more of their own market for themselves.

In recent months quite a number of longwool breeders have sent over consignments which have been sold at really good figures. Particularly’ is this so with the Border Leicester breeders. There has been a steady demand for Borders from New South Wales and Victoria, and shipments have also been made to South and Western Australia. The Corriedale breeders of the Dominion and to some extent the Romney Marsh people have found good outlets for numbers of their stud sheep so that the Australian market to the Dominion is a very valuable one and well worth looking after.

Various demands have been made to induce the Department of Agriculture in New Zealand to improve the control of the export of sheep. It has been suggested that 'sheep from registered flocks only should be allowed to go aw'ay from the but the Minister of Agriculture has always emphasised that there are in the country a large number of flocks of various breeds which are practically purebred though not registered with any’ of the breed societies, and it would be unfair to owners of such flocks as these to prohibit them from exporting sheep. There has always been a difficulty with regard to the registration of tattoo marks placed on sheep going abroad by the breed societies. It seems clear that something will have to be done, and tootvery soon, to tighten up the export of sheep. There is another side to the picture which the Australians are rather apt to forget, and that is that the buyers of sheep are apt to pass over big, well-grown stud animals in favour of smaller sheep. Quite a number of stud breeders from this province who have sent over specially good, well-grown rams have had. them passed over on account of their size. With long railages many New South Wales pastoralists are more inclined to pa? attention to how many sheep they will be able to jam in a truck rather than as to the \qualities of the animals they are buying. It appears that the rabidly protectionist policy which dominates the

commercial and industrial life of Australia is at the back of this two-guinea movement, and it will have to be watched by sheep farmers of the Dominion, especially those engaged in breeding stud sheep.