6 BULLETIN" 313, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



quickly reestablished. Serious and widespread as are the Australian 

 droughts, the handicap they impose upon the sheep business is not so 

 great as appears at first sight. Only in such times is it necessary to 

 feed the flocks in that country. With extra feed available, less is 

 needed to maintain an animal through a drought period than through 

 a period of cold and storm such as is experienced with greater fre- 

 quency by American flocks. 



TENURE OF PASTORAL LANDS. 



The high rank of the Australian and New Zealand sheep raisers is 

 due in part to the newness of their countries. Many areas now de- 

 voted to sheep raising will ultimately be used for crop production. 

 The fact that settlement is in its earlier stages affords greater scope 

 and opportunity for pastoral pursuits. In the United States the 

 sheep raiser has repeatedly been forced by the farmer to retreat to 

 the drier, rougher, and more remote sections. It is a question 

 whether the value of the total output of some sections has not been 

 reduced as a result of the abandonment of grazing consequent upon 

 the taking up of a few claims for farming. 



In large part, however, the efficiency of the Australasian pastoralist 

 is due to the system under which he secures and holds his grazing 

 lands. No Australasian sheep owner uses public domain without 

 charge; neither is he in any danger of having the lands he has leased 

 grazed by stock other than his own. In some "back" sections the 

 cost of his lease may be practically nominal, but it gives him full use 

 of the land and renders him liable to higher rates at such time as 

 settlement has approached him and the lease value of the land has 

 advanced. The conditions governing leasing, like those concerning 

 the acquiring of freehold, vary considerably with the different States. 



LAND LEASING. 



The leasing policy appears to have been found satisfactory by the 

 governments of the various States and is generally approved by the 

 lessees. The acreage of land under lease in the Australian Common- 

 wealth increased from 1901 to 1912 by 19 per cent, or over 137,000,000 

 acres, and in the latter year constituted 45 per cent of the Common- 

 wealth area. New South Wales had 62 per cent of its area under 

 lease, Victoria 25 per cent, and Queensland 74 per cent. The last- 

 named State in 1912 granted 348 leases for grazing homesteads, aver- 

 aging 11,000 acres each, and 223 leases for grazing farms, averaging 

 8,228 acres. 



In leasing provision is made for later resumption of lands by the 

 Crown for division for smaller pastoralists or farmers. In such cases 

 the original lessor retains his own central homestead and receives 

 compensation for improvements upon lands resumed by the Crown. 



