108 STATISTICAX REVIEW — 2fEW SOUTH WALES. 



The statistics show that wo commeuced the decennial period 

 with the following live stock, namely : — 



Horses 273,389 



Cattle 2,620,383 



Sheep 6,145,651 



and that we close the decennary with 



Horses - ... 304,100 



Cattle 2,014,888 



Sheep 16,278,697 



that is to say, we have increased our horse stock by over thirty- 

 thousand ; we are poorer in horned cattle by over six hundred 

 thousand, and we have increased our sheep by over ten millions. 



This is a striking result, and one which can hardly have been 

 anticipated, viz. : that whilst we have increased our ilocks in the 

 ten years 165 per cent., we have lost 23 per cent, of our herds. 

 Whether we owe this deficiency in our horned cattle to the 

 ravages of pleuro-pneumonia, or to the increased demand for beef 

 by the meat-preserving establishments, I know not — partly 

 perhaps to both. The result, from whatever cause it arises, 

 ought to stimulate our cattle-breeders and farmers to greater care 

 and greater exertion, so as to keep pace with the increasing 

 requirements of the Country. For every 100 of the population, 

 we have 400 head of cattle, and 3,200 sheep ; or, in other words, 

 4 head of cattle and 32 sheep for every man, woman, and child 

 in the Country. AYe need be under no apprehension of starving 

 from lack of butchers' meat ; whilst, at the same time, it is not 

 very clear, from the returns of the last ten years (unless we can 

 greatly extend our power of increase) where the great surplus 

 of cattle is to come from that is expected to feed the growing 

 demand for our beef — whether salted, tinned, or frozen — in the 

 Mother Country. 



The decrease in cattle occurred most noticeably in the years 

 1863 and 1864, and it would seem that the ill effects of the 

 pleuro-pneumonia epidemic were felt up to the year 1869, for it is 

 not till that year the number of cattle in the Colony showa an 

 upward tendency. 



, Between 1862 and 1871 — omitting the two years 1867 and 

 1868, in which no statistics of the " overland" traffic were 

 taken — the exports and imports of cattle and sheep across the 

 border to Victoria stood thus, viz. : — 



Cattle. Sheep. 



Exports 551,464 3,440,790 



Imports 33,834 195,213 



Xet exports in the 8 years 517,630 3,245,577 



