760 EEPOBT— 1886. 



Denmark ranks next, and Canada third. It is significant, however, that -whereas, 

 in 1885, our import of cattle from all other soiu'ces fell off, the import from Canada 

 increased fully one-eighth on that of the preTious year. 



The fresh meat trade is of recent but rapid growth. Excluding Australasia, 

 Holland is the only country which has hitherto sent fresh mutton in any quantity 

 into the United Kingdom, but the import from Holland last year was less than 

 one-fourth of that from Australasia. Taking the last four years, 1882 to 1885, the 

 ratio of the impoi-t of fresh mutton from Australasia to the total import from aU 

 sources exhibits the following rapid increase: 0-19, 0-40, 0-60, 0-59. Australasia, 

 therefore, now sends us more than half the total import, and the actual quantity 

 derived from this source last year was 336,495 cwt., the total import being 571,646 

 cwt. Most of the Australasian export is from New Zealand. 



Of dairy produce, nearly the whole of the cheese, and moi'e than three-fourths 

 of the butter, exported from Canada, enter the markets of the United Kingdom. 

 Cheese also comes in large quantity from the United States and Holland, and 

 butter from HoUand, France, Denmark, the United States, and Belgium, in the 

 order named. Canada, however, has taken a firm hold on our cheese markets, and 

 owing to the superior and uniform quality of her produce is likely to maintain and 

 even to increase it. Were the Canadian butter as well manufactured and as reli- 

 able a product as the Canadian cheese, our imports of butter from Canada would 

 probably be far larger than they are. Canadian dairy-farmers are looking into this 

 matter, but they must not delay, for a new competitor in this industry is arising in 

 the Southern Seas. The enterprising colony of Victoria, encouraged by the satis- 

 factory results flowing from the British trade in fresh meat, is bent on tempting* 

 the English markets with fresh Australian butter. It is argued that the system of 

 refrigeration, by means of which meat is kept fresh during the long voyage to 

 England, will serve equally well in the case of butter, and it is pointed out that 

 butter produced during the early part of the Antipodean summer would reach the 

 English markets in time to command a ready sale during mid-winter. When it 

 is borne in mind that the little kingdom of Denmark sent us, from 1872 to 1882, 

 between one and two million pounds worth of butter every year, and during 1883 

 and 1884 over two million pounds worth per annum, the ambition of Victoria does 

 not seem altogether hopeless. 



. Coming lastly to wool, many English farmers who are now struggling with 

 adversity can remember the time when the wool of their sheep would pay the 

 rent. Those palmy days have gone, never to return, for the United Kingdom now 

 imports over 500 million lbs. of wool per annum, most of which comes from Aus- 

 tralasia and Cape Colony. Arranging these colonies in the order of their wool- 

 exporting capacity, they stand thus: 1. New South Wales; 2, New Zealand; 

 3, Victoria ; 4, Queensland ; 5, South Australia ; 6, Cape Colony ; 7, Tasmania ; 

 8, Western Australia. But New South Whales produces more than New Zealand, 

 Victoria, and Queensland together, whilst Tasmania and Western Australia col- 

 lectively produce less than one-tbird as much as Cape Colony. How veiy im- 

 portant to the colonial farmer in the Southern Hemisphere is the price of wool on 

 the English market may be judged from the fact that a difference of only one 

 farthing per lb. in the selling value of the wool exported ?u a single year, 1883, 

 would make a difference amounting to nearly half-a-million sterling in the aggre- 

 gate value. The total value of the wool imported into the United Kingdom fi-om 

 our colonies of Australasia and the Cape since 1831, estimated at the average 

 selling price in London of the last twenty-five years, is 421,121,192^,, of which 

 77,416,721^. represents the South African exports. This splendid creation of 

 wealth can be better appreciated when it is stated that the total value of all the 

 gold found in Australasia has not yet reached 300 millions sterling. 



In each of the three great departments of his industry, whether it be the grow- 

 ing of corn, the raising of meat, or the production of cheese and butter, the British 

 farmer is called upon to face severe colonial (and foreign) competition. In the case 

 of cattle and cheese from Canada, and in that of wheat and fresh meat from Auij- 

 tralasia, this competition is rapidly assuming greater proportions. This, however, 

 IS no matter for regret, for since the mother-country is quite incapable of satisfying 



