1696 INDUSTRIES DEPENDIXG ON ANIMAL PRODUCTS 



Value 



Market No. of bales — 



— — £ 



Sydney 707 969 10 429 770 



Melbourne and Geelong 349 984 5 632 152 



Adelaide 115 3i4 1525 9/2 



Freeman tie i 459 16527 



Brisbane 246376 4279498 



Tasmania 22016 303643 



New Zealand 364861 7 7i5 97o 



Australasia . i 807 979 29 903 532 



Average price per bale £16 10 s lorf(i). 



The gross revenue as shown above exceeded that of 1914-1915 b}' 

 ten million sterling. 



The 1914-1915 clip was characterised iiy a rise in the proportion of 

 crossbred to merino wool and in this connection it is interesting to con- 

 trast the clips over a period of 5 years. At Melbourne in 1911-1912, 56 per 

 cent of the wool sold consisted of merino, the rest being crossbred, but in 

 1915-1916 the percentage had been reduced to 48. At Geelong over the 

 same period the reduction was smaller i. e. from 51 to 49 per cent. The 

 increasing amount of crossbred wool on the market is attributed to the 

 growth of the frozen meat trade which is gradually causing the pure me- 

 rino flocks to be replaced by general purpose sheep i. e. sheep which are 

 more suitable for the production of mutton though their fleece ma^^ not 

 be quite so fine as that of the merino. Nevertheless in Queensland the 

 merino is still likely to hold its own, as the recent drought there has de- 

 monstrated clearly the special hardiness of the Peppin and South Austra- 

 lian types and has made owners less anxious to try experimental crosses 

 with English breeds. With regard to the demand for the two classes of 

 wool, the war has caused an. unprecedented run upon the coarser kinds 

 to supply the army clothing departments. America has on the other hand 

 been a keen bu3^er of the finer tj'pes. 



A comparison of the average weight of fleeces for the last three sea- 

 sons is given below : 



No. of fleeces Average weight 



per bale of bale 



1913-1914 41-56 327-2 



1914-1915 43.97 329.1 



1915-1916 44.31 322.7 



These figures are not altogether a true indication of how the sheep 

 are cutting as the weight of the bales varies and shows a tendency to be- 

 come lighter. From the above figures the mean yield per sheep for 1915- 

 1916 and IQ14-1915 was 7.28 and 7.41 lbs. respectiveh'. 



The top prices made in any one year on the Australian markets have 



(i) Corresponding figures for 191 3-19 14 were: 2527463 bales for a gross value i.>i 

 £33 478 353 or £13 4S iirf per bale. 



