THE Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY, 20th JULY, 1895.

Southland Times, Issue 13269, 20 July 1895, Page 2

THE Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY, 20th JULY, 1895.

The pastoral interest of Few Zealand has sustained a heavy blow by tbe result of sales of the stud sheep forwarded to the recent Fair at Sydney. We have, by telegram of 15th inst., the bare announcement of prices, withofit any explanation of the extraordinary depression that characterised the market when so much prime stock came under tbe hammer. It is simply appalling to read the analysis of the sale?. Lincoln rams, at little mere than LI a head, Romney Marsh rams at less than 20s, and ewes at less than 40s,Border Leicester rams at less than Ll,and ewes at LI 16s,English Leicester rams at 21s, Southdown rams at Ils 6d, Shropshire rams at 16s 6.1, and ewes at 10s ; a total of 3GOB sheep realising a fraction above a guinea per head. Such results were indeed disastrous. But they were not the worst. A later telegram than the one referred to has intimated that “It is unlikely that many of the sheep brought from New Zealand for sale will return, as the bu’k of those withdrawn are being forwarded to the boiling down establishments.’’ Wo assume that this is the method taken by ti e owners to express their disgust at the prices offered, and is the same sort of protest that is sometimes made by shooting an animal through the head iu preference to letting it fall into the hands of a person who shows by his bids that he is incapable of recognising its value. No greater discouragement of breeding stud animals could have been given than what hrs happened in the Sydney market. It was reasonable to anticipate that the pick of our flocks, as no doubt

the sheep exported were, would be appreciated by the rich squatters of New South Wales ; and a

handsome return must have been

reckoned on by those who will come borne in bitter disappointment We sincerely sympathise with all those who have undergone so unhappy an exp rience. Unless there was something exceptional in the circumstances, the improvement of breeds of sheep—and we may add, of other stock—so beaeficial to the community, as well as, speaking geoeral y, hitherto so profitable to tbe biecJeii., will uut be undertaken, at least with the same ardour as they have been in the past, and the result will be a national loss. It would be too mu<'h to imagine that the drought, now afflicting New South Wales and threatening to increase in intensity, can in any safficient measur.i explain the phenomenally low prices that have been experienced. Let us hope that some adequate and unusual train of circumstances will yet be cited in explanation.

. . . . There is another disaster, and one of still greater dimensions, that has befallen pastoralists in Canterbury and the North of Otago, in the highlying districts. Sheep, as it ia well known, have perished thereby hundreds of thousands in the midst of tbe pitiless snows of this month and last; while those that have not succumbed survive in a condition of miserable weakness i from which it is too unlikely that they will ever recover. The whole tale of losses cannot of course yet be ascertained, bnt it would be difficult to exaggerate its probable extent. The painful part of tbe trouble is that it has occurred at a time of tbe year when food away from the hille is impossible to be procured, and months must elapse before there is any sufficiency of sustenance. It is a most harassing look-ou*, and many must in the end be seriously involved. This is to say nothing of the poor animals which have been subjected to the in tensesufferings so pathetically narrated. Ths circumstance that the prospects for wool have become so encouraging is another bitter drop in the cup of those squatters who have been so severely visited. , . , For the country in general, of course tbe future in this respect is hopeful, everything pointing to a maintenance or increase of prices. Oats have also advanced considerably, with tbe expectation of a firm and still better market. For crops and grass there is the prospect of a fine spring and summer. As we have, according to former experience, fallen heirs, as it were, to a reversion of the hard winter experienced on the other side of the world) so we may hope to have, in succession tbe phenomenally fine weather that visited England in the first month of summer. The Home papers can hardly find language strong enough in which to express the warmth, the mellowness, and the beauty of the month of May, In this hemisphere the season of mildness and growth conies, sometimes, earlier than November, which corresponds to the May of the North ; and if we should be favoured this year with these features as early as in Septem. i r and October, it would meet well our somewhat pressing exigencies. Farm operations have been greatly retarded by the quantity of moisture in tbe land, but there is plenty of time to recover lost days, and appearances all point at the moment to a run of dry and steady weather. , . . It is too soon to speak of the prospect of resuscitating the important institution to which the agriculturists of this district owe so much—the Southland Frozen Meat Company ; but now that the farmers have awakened to some sense of their responsibilities and interests, it may not be too much to expect that the efforts being made will in some way prove successful. So much depends on the continued independent 1 existence of the company that every nerve should be strained tr preserve it. 1

But failing success in that direction, there will be nothing for it but to endeavour to secure good terms for amal. gamation. Anything reasonable would be bettor in the interests of the shareholders than liquidation, which will be the dernier ressort Tbe claim against Nelson Brothers Limited, is too strong seemingly to be disregarded in any estimate of the company’s position, and we trust that the directors will have the sagacity and the courage to appre ciate and press it, should they be forced to take action. It is in the interests of the district and the shareholders that we express these views. There are few agencies, that bear more directly and powerfully bn tbe well.beiog of Southland than the conservation in the present hands, and tbe continued activity of tbe works in question ; and the shareholders have fought so manfully through many viscisitudes .that they are eminently worthy of all the sympathy and support that the Press can give. We shall look with interest, and even anxiety, for the outcome of negotiations by the committee that are now in progress.