23© 



SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 



Country. 



Australia (1929) 



U.S.S.R. (Asia and Europe) 



U.S.A. . 



Union of S. Africa (1929) 



Argentina . 



New Zealand 



British India 



Great Britain 



Uruguay . 



Spain (1929) 



France (1929) 



Italy 



Germany . 



Table I. 



No. of 

 Sheep, 1930 

 (Thousands). 



104,558 

 89,860 1 



51,911 

 45,010 

 44,413 

 30,841 



25,539 

 23,965 

 20,558 



19,370 



10,452 



9,896 



3.501 



Total 

 Land Area 

 (Thousand 

 Hectares). 



770,385 

 2,117,620 



783,943 



122,224 



279,271 



26,784 



270,130 

 22,744 

 18,693 

 50,521 

 54,405 

 31,014 

 46,864 



Sheep 



per 100 



Hectares. 



13-6 



•4 

 6-6 



36-8 



15-9 



115-1 



9-4 



105-4 



90-9 



38-3 



19-2 



31-9 

 7-5 



Table II enables us to examine the position in European countries more 

 comparable with our own than those at the head of the first table. It will 

 he noticed that the area considered — arable and grass land — is different 

 from that in Table I, where total land area was taken as the basis of 

 calculation. The important facts brought out by this table are (i) our 

 low proportion of tilled land, which is only about half the average of the 

 other countries ; (2) our great number of sheep ; (3) the small population 

 employed on a given area of land. In Great Britain sheep are used to 

 consume a large part of the production of the soil which in other countries 

 is of a different character and is disposed of in a different way— e.g. 

 France grows a much larger proportion of crops for direct human con- 

 sumption ; in Germany, Holland, and, above all, in Denmark, dairy 

 cattle and pigs dominate farming practice. 



In assessing the importance of the industry it is perhaps even more 

 necessary to know how sheep compare with other branches of farming in 

 this country, and I have therefore drawn up Table III (p. 232) from 

 figures in the official reports on Agricultural Output. It indicates the 

 extent to which the income of the British farmer depends on receipts from 

 sheep and wool. It should be noted that the figures include only pro- 

 duce sold off the land or consumed in farm households. They do not 

 include sales from one farm to another. 



^ This figure taken from the International Y ear-Book is probably much too low. 

 The 'Wool Survey ' recently published by the Empire Marketing Board, quoting 

 the Journal of the Soviet Textile Trust, gives 100-5 millions. The number in 

 1929 was 132-8 milUons. 



