AUSTRALASIA: NEW ZEALAND. 649 



PRICE OF NEW ZEALAND CATTLE. 



Three-year-old steers are -worth in Auckland from 320 to $30 each, 

 and when fat they realize from $35 to $55, the market being a very 

 fluctuating one. The cattle are sold at per head, the calculation being 

 a guess one of per 100 pounds dead. The auctioneer's quotations vary 

 from $4.25 to $7.50 per 100 pounds of beef, the price depending on the 

 supply, but the former is often the midsummer price and the latter the 

 midwinter or early spring. 



DAIRY FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND. 



Dairy farming is carried on with profit in New Zealand by a large 

 proportion of the settlers, especially when the family can do the work, 

 without employing much extra help, Near the large towns and cities 

 considerable quantities of milk are consumed fresh, some farmers retail- 

 ing their own milk, while others sell wholesale to the dairy companies 

 or dealers, who sometimes receive it by railway from 10 to 30 miles. The 

 dealers generally pay from 10 to 1G cents per gallon for the milk. The 

 business of butter and cheese making, combined with rearing calves and 

 pigs, is profitably followed when the distance from the city or railway 

 will not allow the milk to be sold fresh. Several cheese factories are 

 now in full working order in the colony, the machinery for which was 

 imported from the United States. The farmers supply the milk from a 

 radius of 3 to 5 miles to these, factories at from 7 to 8 cents per gallon, 

 and find it more profitable than butter-making. 



NUMBER OF DISTINCT BREEDS IN NEW ZEALAND. 



There are quite as many diiferent kinds of cattle in New Zealand as 

 in the United States. Mr. Dilworth says ten distinct breeds are known 

 to exist in the colony, and there may be some others (recent importa- 

 tions) in the south island that have not as yet come under his knowl- 

 edge. The following are the mames of the different breeds of cattle in 

 New Zealand : Shorthorns or Durhams, Herefords, Ayrshires, Devons, 

 Black Polled Angus, Jerseys, Alderneys, Normans, and Bretons. The 

 Shorthorns and the Herefords are the two principal breeds. The New 

 Zealand Stock and Pedigree Company own a herd of the latter, pure 

 blood, numbering over seven hundred. 



One of the most striking facts in connection with the cattle industry 

 of this colony is their wonderful immunity from diseases which cause 

 such devastation in Australia. For instance, pleuro-pneumonia cannot 

 live in New Zealand. This dreadful disease was introduced here on 

 two occasions from Australia, but at once assumed a very mild type, 

 and soon disappeared altogether. Another fact almost as interesting 

 is that cattle are never vicious in New Zealand. It is well known in 

 Auckland district that cattle will not fight one another. I have often 

 observed that when bulls of an equal age are turned into a paddock 

 together for the first time, they will not take notice of each other. I 

 have also observed that in large dairies where fresh cows are repeatedly 

 introduced it is never necessary to cut or cap their horns. 



COST OF TRANSPORTATION. 



The cost for shipping cattle per head to San Francisco via the Pacific 

 Mail Steamship Company is $150 to $200. This cost would be ma- 

 terially lessened if they were shipped in sufficient numbers to justify 



