ON THE LAND.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11730, 21 June 1916, Page 8

ON THE LAND.

, JOTTINGS FOR FARMERSL A cable message yesterday stated that 'Germany had purchased tho Argentuio wool clip. Last 1 October a French woolman pointed out that Germany held 80,000 in Buenos Aires, and meant to jnake the Allies pay for the nest c hp. No. 2 quality was then quoted at -s lua per lb, and No. 3 at 2s BJd per lb. The number of horses used for agricultural purposes in Britain last Juno was 1,699,640. The question of the increasing number •of rabbits at Tnupo has been referred to the. Department of Agriculture. '' ~A' Wairarapa 'correspondent states tha a number off armors, following las year's custom, mean to pay shearers -os per 100. ' An expert is to report on the proposal to establish a Stat© lime kiln on the West Coast. . 'fjord Shaughhessy, president of the ; Cahadian Pacific Railway, announces that 1000 farms will be set aside m I Western Canada by tho Canadian f'acific Railway for tho use ot disanded' soldiers. The; farms will oe jeady for occupation in the spring or next year. They— will bo grouped in colonies, with appropriate military j .names. ..■/* • .The British National. Sheepbreeders' Association, at their .annual meeting, ; favourably entertained a to raise' the dog tax from 7s 6d to -Is ?pOr annum. Tho damage done to ■ .flocks by dogs is estimated at £0,000,000 per anmim, so that there is every reason for raising the tax. . Mr H. E, "Walshe, assistant Government Surveyor; has returned to Napier from the Gisborne (district after inspecting an area of 48.000 acres in the ..Tahora district with a view to defining the roads so that blocks might be surged and offered for selection, Mr Walshe found the country to be very broken and suitable only for pastoral runs or grazing farms in fairly large areas. Argentina is now supplying the United btates with a largo quantity of mutton, as well as refrigerated beef. The " National Provisioned" notices the arrival in New York of a steamer with 83,321 careas-es of mutton and lamb, with 10,000 quarters of beef. The American Consulate at Punta Arenas. Chile, has also notified. that there are available 2000 tons of frozen dressed" sheep at ojd per lb f.0.1>., shipment in June and July. 'The '' Live Stock Journalreports that the Brazilian Federal Government has purchased England twenty-six yearling Hereford bulls and eighteen yearlings for shipment to that country. This Is the first large shipment of pedigree stock made by the Hereford Hera .Book Society. It has been found that this breed 'do particularly well in Brazil, and, stand the heat and hardships better than other beef breeds. The Herefords were selected from well- , known herds. The same agency also ■ purchased fifty Oxford Down sheep, thirty-four Berkshire aud twenty-six large black pigs. BULLOCK WORTH £SOO. , It seems incredible that a fat bullock should be worth five hundred _ sovereigns, yet that is the price which the owner in New South has refused for,one. The extraordinary animal is of Durham - brsed, and weighs 30001b. , He measnfes 1 12ft-6in rotintT the Igirtx, and 4ffe through" the shoulder. These measurements are almost identical with those msMe hy the best English 'beast in 1891. Ho was bred in Tasmania, and stands 17 hands His age is seven vears. The present owner, Mr M. J. Vlyun, paid £207 for him, and has refused £SOO. - ■ ABERDEEN-ANGUS CArTLE. The following,from the "Banffshire Journal' relates to stock arriving Hhqrtly in New Zealand by a Home liner:— A very nice consignment of Abercattle has been .selected for export to :New ; Zealand by Mr L. Beaton, Cullen, late , r farm manager to the Countess Dowager of Seafield ? and recognised as one of the best ju'dges of Aberdeen-Angus cattle. The consignment consists of twc-year-old bulls and three two-year-old heifers. One of . the bulls is Ermitano, calved February 7, 1914, which" was acquired from Mr 7 William Maitland, East '.Balhalgardy, Inverurie., ; He. is of the Trojan Erica family, was hred by Mr John Philip, Dandaleith, and- at the Perth sale in ,1915 he was fourth in a class of 275 bulls. Later on, in the ownership of Mr Maitland, he was first at Inverurie and second, at the Royal Northern show at Aberdeen to Mr Findlay's champion-winning bull Prince of Adra, . since exported to the Argentine. Ermitano's sire is El Capitan, bred by Mr James Kernedy, of - Doonholm, which cost 300gs as a calf. SYDNEY SHOW. The Sydney show this year was greater than ever (says a Sydney writer). These continual successes suggest tho query as to where this great • fixture is- eventually going to land." One day there was a gate of 95,000 people. Likeljv enough next- y£ar the figure will grow to six figures. There was not a ' department which could not, be described as great. It is astonishing how . widespread-are. the people., to be met at this gatherir.g—fiom every corner of Australia and New Zealand, South Africa,' America and from Europe. The evidences of the lyar were present, but the evils of the drought were more pronouncd, though New South Wales has well-nigh forgotten her troubles in this respect. The war as a stimulant to production made its mark, especially, in the constructive industries, for wo now find ourselves making things which did not "dream of doing before the cataclysm. A point of interest w the'dearth of vets., so many having gone to the front. But if there were no departmental officers of this sort left, the committee made up the shortage b"y ; appointing its own voti to do the weeding out in the horse sections, and are to got the Government to ratify it. The catalogue contained no less than < 8275 exhibits, easily a society' record. Big as were the pavilion arrangements, the management. had at tho eleventh hour to make temporary arrangements for a* lot of the things. Cattle numbered 700, and. horses 400. . - t "A SERIOUS MENACE." - "Part XVI. of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1913, provides ample machinery for dealing with all cases of aggregation. There is power to take compulsorily all land acquired by way of aggregation and to pay compensation for same. Directions nave been issued to all Crown Lands Rangersto report from time to time any genuine or apparent case of aggregation that _ may come under their notice, with a view to such case being fully inquired into and action being taken thereon where necessary. I may say, however, that the Departmental records show there are many cases of subdivision for every one of aggregation.' 1 Such was the reply given bv the Right Hon W. F. Massey in the llouse of Representatives to a question by Mr W. T. Jennings (Taumarunni) as to whether his attention had been drawn to the following resolution, passed at a meeting of delegates at the conference of tho Farmers' Union at ' Levin by a vote of twenty-six to fourteen: That, in view of the serious menace aggregation of land is becoming to the welfare of this country, the Government be urged to take more effective measures to prevent same." Mt Jennings said he thought the reply was becgin<* the question altogether. If a bodv of men representing the Farmers' who were acQuamted m every

way with what was going on, passed a resolution, their opinion was one calling for a more satisfactory reply than that given. Aggregation was going on, and unsatisfactory measures were being taken to prevent it. IN TARANAKI. A writer from South Taranaki states in a New Plymouth paper:—The buyer for the American Beef Trust- is operating freely here, and during the last fortnight has purchased about 800 head of fat bullocks and cows. Most of these are being trucked to Longburn freezing works. Taranaki is about the only place where food is plentiful. The turnip crop has been a failure. Local freezing companies complain bitterly of the lack of snipping, and one hears of many fattcners sending their stock outside to get it away. _ It seems the men who are near the city of Wellington gain tho day, as their appeals are made- direct to the fountain head. Hence they have the advantage for getting freezing space. Fat sheep buyers aro scouring around, and it. looks like another increase in mutton as well as beef. C'heeso producers are wondering if they are again to be picked out. and other primary products left out of the " commandeering business" during the coming season. One , factory alone, Ivaupokonui Company,' received £15,000 less than the market value by having 30 per cent of their output commandeered at 7d per lb. They ft re also contributing a percentage of their moneys for butter-fat to the patriotic funds.