528 



tlie iuterior, a great deterioration in sheep is noted. This is attributed 

 to the laud-laws not admitting of pastoral homesteads ; and tlie nquatter 

 ■who merely camps upon the public lands breeds only for numbers, with 

 but little regard for quality. A large portion of these sheep are not 

 worth shearing. It is estimated that at least half of the 20,000,000 sheep 

 of Kew South Wales should be slaughtered, and their places supplied 

 by improved breeds of wool-prodacing animals. The improvement of 

 M. per fleece on 10,000,000 sheep would amount to £375,000 or -S 1,875,000 

 per annum. 



The speaker comi^lained of the laud legislation, which crippled the 

 greatest industrial interest of the colony — wool production. Squatters 

 who have gone in advance of civilization and have established sheep- 

 stations in the wilderness, dining oft the kangaroo, extinguishing the 

 bush-fires, and adding greatly to the beef and mutton product of the 

 country, are at the mercy of free-selectors, who, under the law, can 

 appropriate all the improvements found upon the land. A pre-emption 

 law, like that of our American public-land system, by giving the actual 

 settler inceptive rights within a limited period to the refusal of the land, 

 would arrest this land-grabbing process and secure the possession of the 

 soil to that class of owners which will manage it more in accordance 

 with the public interest. The regular occupation of the country and 

 the erection of fences is necessary to secure the excellencies of the Aus- 

 tralian merino. The indigenous grasses of the country are disappearing 

 and varieties bearing pernicious seed are springing up in their place. 

 The country must be fenced and sown in desirable varieties in order ta 

 secure adequate nourishment for the increasing flocks of the colony. 



