Live Stock Notes.

Southland Times, Issue 19454, 5 November 1904, Page 1

Live Stock Notes.

THE FISCAL QUESTION. "By Freezer." It isN rather surprising that the farming community of New Zealand should take so littlo interest in this subject. This indlffereiice, if it is allowed to continue, may lose for them an opportunity of bettering their prospects, such as will not recur for a very long time to com.. Already the matter of preferential tariffs is being allowed to drop, and unless more interest is taken in the matter in the colonies the Fre_trade Tarty in Great Britain vqill likely succeed in 'their' desire to leave matters as they are.' '.'■"■'''.'■ • - There is no .doubt that when the situation in regard to Great Britain's meat supply is , considered, the freetrader can bring forward . some very strong arguments in his favour. It may come ns n surprise to those who hold the view thatj the British Empire could rely up-:^Jt»-r'o\\*ii' \r__©_r.__^Tor* the • ■who i fe' ol its meat supply, 'to find Britain's dependencies supplying such a small percentage of Che meat required. Taking the consumption of beef, mutton -and ','."■ lamb, we find, that 02 J per coat, is produced by Great Britain herself, 25 1 per cent- is- imported from foreign. c__ri .Tries, and* only 12 \from the Australasian colonies. In the Home Cannery there is a steadily growing •demand for fresh ■" meat, and < bis cannot lie met by the almost stationary Home production/ nor by the slowly expanding colonial output, so that to shut out the j foreigners' supply oi 20 per cent, of tha j wholo would certainly raise the cost ol i the other 75 per cent. It is contended that the colonies cannot be relied upon to increase tbeir export to fill up tha gap, in the event of the prohibition of these foreign imports, for last year the colonies only provided 186,000 tons out of a total of 555,000 tons of the meat required. In the case o! beef, R0 per; cent, of the United Kingdom's imports come from foreign countries, and although the bulk of. this beef comes from the United States,' large 'as the quantity is, '*• represents- not more than 5 or 10 per cent, of the country's production. In the case of mutton and lamb, th colonies give a better account of themsolves, supplying 113,000 tons as against 97.0/10 tons sent from foreign coun. tries. In the face', of these facts it is argued .that placing an import duty on imported meat -ivill most certainly -raise tho . price of meat all round, and no matter how Mr Chamberlain may discus-si the question, the fact still remains that meat will he dearer uuder his .scheme of preferential tariffs, and this the working man will resent. Instead of endeavouring to help .tho producers of this country by offering assistance to Mr Chamberlain to carry out his scheme, the Seddon ' G oveminent took advantage of the opportunity to raise their already high tarifls. and so j?et some more .moaey out of people, who already Und the cost of living quit, high enough. The N.2_. Government:* poJicy'is one of *• take without tho ■•give," and this is a splendid argument in the Freetraders' favour to leave the colonies to shift for themselves. If the 'farmers in this country only recognised the enormous advantage it would be tb- them, they would take a little wore interest in the 'subject than thoy do now., It is not the intention of | the writer to discuss politics in this j column, but when poUticians are blind to the fact that New Zealand is purely an agricultural country, the farming community ought to use the ways and means in their' power to replace them by those politicians who recognise this truism. Local industries which have to lie spoon-fed by high import tariffs do moro hnrm than good to the country, and it is only bleeding the public still I further to raise the import duties. The stud stock at Pino Bush w a s a [ bigger success than many anticipated. All the shorthorns were in excellent form, and J. W, deserves credit. A photo should gave been taken of the speyed heifers, which for weight and quality were the best seen in Southland for many a day. ' • They were well worth the money, and the Beef Trust, in whose .possession they now are. will most likely cash them to advantage. Somo people seckon that the Trust is getting too strong, and R. J. S. will be Instructedysoon to bring his anti-Trust Bill into operation. Hoggets were exceedingly dear nt (sor e . It is significant that the chief buyers were Otalgo men. | Backwurd weather prevented Canterbury buyers operating, although some wanted sheep very badly. The big consignment of fat and forward wethers which went north recently has seriously inconvenienced local butchers, who are now at their wit's end to get mutton at a reasonable price. Wallacetown ia just now the best market in w _icb to sell sheep, but Burnside can show better returns for prime bullocks. This week mutton at Wallacetown ruust have come very near 5d gross, ond beef at Burnside in a number o£ sales wot* quite 90s. ••••»•■'»•'»*■«'»■»»-«--------_,