WOOL.

Wellington Independent, Issue 3, 9 April 1845, Page 3

WOOL.

T.O the Editor of the Wellington I Independent. Sir, —The number of your paper of date sth April, 1845, contained an article on wool, and as it is impossible to overrate the importance of this subject, it necessarily follows that the statements regarding it should be precise, and in all cases supported by facta. Your correspondent (Rusticus) informs your readers, in his concluding paragraph, that he has already drawn the attention of tlie European settlers in the neighbourhood®of Auckland to the subject, by means of the local press, and above all, he states that he is a practical man, and has proved the correalness of the various calculations he advances. lam unacquainted with the progress made in sheep farming in the neighbourhood of Auckland, but I have a feeling that the opinions of practical men were rather unfavorable, and mostassuredly we have hitherto not heard of wool as an article of export from any of the harbours in the neighbourhood of Auckland. Indeed, the surrounding country has been described to me more as an agricultural than a pastoral district, —hence it can scarcely be in that quarter where Rusticus has proved tlie correctness of his calculations. _ Again, in Cook's Strait's, sheep stock has hitherto been kept merely with a view of supplying the butcher market with mutton. We now occasionally here of a few bales of wool having reached the London market from New Zealand; but all will admit that sheep farming in this country is in a perfectly infantile state, and regarding its future developement the greatest uncertainty prevails. The country has been, over and over again, declared to be an agricultural and not a pastoral one! and thus to be suddenly informed that it stands first as a wool growing country: and that "£l,0;;0 judiciously laid out in sheep farming in this colony will, under proper management, after the first year, produce at least £500 annually, clear of all expenses," is unquestionably a statement which will require some facts to induce any one to believe. Supposing the country, when got possession of, turns out favourable for sheep farming, any details which your correspondent Rusticus may be inclined to favour us, with regaid to the proper management he alludes to, would be most acceptable. The sheep imported into Port Nicholson have been mostly from New South Wales, and, I believe I may safely state, without care having been bestowed on the selection. They appear to me to have been chiefly Merino's, and consequently of the short or middle-woolled breed. Now, Rusticus speaks only of long wool, and thus the tedious and important process of changing the breed of sheep requires to be commenced! A feeling that a deal of mischic f has been done the colony of New Zealand by statements being made prematurely, which ultimately turned out unsupported by facts, and consequent failures; has induced me to trouble your readers with this notice, and an extract from the "Journal of observations," no doubt kept by Rusticus, will, I feel assured, be most grateful to all who have the prosperity of the colony of New Zealand at heart. K # Wellington, April 7, 1845.