WOOL TNDUSTRV. 



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the quality aud cliaractcr of tlic general flocks ; and the remarkable 

 results attained in several instances, that could Le cited if Bpaco 

 permitted, show that in this direction there remains a wide field for 

 enterprise and perseverance to labour in with the certainty of a rich 

 reward attending their application. The best sheep are at ])resent 

 usually found on the larger properties. The contrary should Ije the 

 case, and the time is, probably, not far distant when tlie small flctck- 

 owners, by the aid of subsidiary industries, such as agriculture, smaller 

 paddocks, and closer attention to breeding, will reverse the position, 

 and materially assist in augmenting the wool supply. Future progress 

 would seem, however, to rest mainly upon the successful solution of 

 the problem as to how to provide a more regular food supply fur tlio 

 flocks. The results already achieved in the chilling and freezing of 

 meat leave no room to doubt that any grave difficulties which now 

 stand in the way of finding a profitable outlet for surplus stock will, 

 ere long, be removed ; but the great fault of the Australian natural 

 pasture has ever been the irregular nature of the supply. This draw- 

 back now forms a serious obstacle to further extension, not only in the 

 sheep-raising industry, but to the proper devclojjment of the meat 

 export trade, from which so much is expected. Fortunately, there 

 are resources within the Colony which as yet remain almost wholly 

 undeveloped, and which may, in years to come, enable New South 

 Wales to accentuate her present pre-eminence as a wool centre. Com- 

 paratively little has as yet been done to tap the subterranean sources 

 of water supply known to exist, or to stay the hasty rush of the product 

 of the thunderstorm to the ocean. The bunds and tanks of Hiudostan 

 and the"awais" of Mesopotamia are monuments of ancient enterprise 

 and ingenuity. What was possible to the Assyrians thousands of years 

 ago should be capable of accomplishment in Australia in times to come. 

 Money is both cheap and plentiful ; but those to whose care the destiny 

 of this splendid pastoral country is committed will do well to ever bear 

 in mind that capital is, above all things, timid. The time would seem 

 to have arrived when producers in New South Wales will have to be 

 both encouraged and enabled to seek to co-operate more intelligently 

 with the forces of nature. Progress in the future must inevitably be 

 slower than it has been in the past ; but there is good ground for the 

 anticipation that with thoroughly sound land legislation, of a nature 

 that satisfies capitalists, the second century of wool-growing in this 

 Colony vfill become an epoch of improvement ; and certainly no reliable 

 forecast of the probable sheep-carrying capacity of such a colony ar. 

 New South Vf ales can be made, providing proper attention be bestowed 

 on irrigation, water conservation, aud forest conservancy. 



