LIVE STOCK, 



97 



tlioir time taken up in tlie management of large nuiiiLers of Klieplicrds 

 and hut-keepers, could then devote the necessary ])ortion of it to the 

 improvement of their runs and sheep. 



Since 1891 the increase in the number of sheep has stopped, and 

 last year (189-4) there were about 5,000,000 less sheep than in 1891. 

 This has arisen from several causes, of which the following arc the 

 principal : — 



1. The carrying capacity of the runs in the present state of their 



improvement had been more than reached. 



2. The system of breeding for numbers and wool, and selliug 



bi'eeding and store sheep, had ceased to pay, as the Queens- 

 land markets had practically closed through the increase of 

 the sheep in that Colony. 



3. Through the fall in the price of wool and the want of an export 



trade in mutton. 



4. The uncertainty and high cost of labour. 



5. The prevalence of the rabbit pest. 



6. The comparatively high rents charged for Crown lands, con- 



sidering the uncertainty of the seasons and the very low prices 

 of mutton and wool. 



As to the probability of our sheep once more increasing, that can 

 be only looked for, to any great extent, if the rise which has recently 

 taken place in the price of wool be maintained -, if the long-looked-for 

 export trade in mutton of an extent at all in proportion to the number 

 of our sheep be established ; if the labour question be put on a satis- 

 factory footing ; if more effective and continued action be taken in 

 dealing with the rabbits ; and if the rents of Crown lands are fixed at 

 reasonable rates, and sufficient encouragement be given to the Crown 

 tenants to make improvements, especially by subdividing and clearing 

 their holdings of scrub and in artesian boring. 



If these things take place, then we have a right to expect that 

 improvements, which are now practically at a standstill throughout the 

 Colony, will be proceeded with and the carrying capacity of the land 

 largely increased, especially on the eastern side of the Colony, where 

 the adoption of a system of supplementing the natural pastures by 

 cultivated food for the stock is urgently called for, both to make our 

 fat stock really prime at an early age, and to keep up a steady supply 

 for export. 



Sheep in the Australasian Colonies. 



As will be seen by the following statement, this Colony in 189i 

 possessed nearly as many sheep as all the other Australasian Colon 

 — i.e., about half the sheep in Australasia. 



