278 NEW SOUTH WALES. 



The average weight of a fleece is about two and a half pounds. 

 Mr. Raymond calculates the cost of transportation to Sydney at 

 about two pence per pound, and the average price of the wool there 

 is eighteen pence per pound. The freight to England is one and 

 a half pence ; and there it has to compete with fine wools from 

 other countries. As to the question whether this can be done profit- 

 ably, there is a considerable difference of opinion between well-in- 

 formed persons in the colony. According to some, it can be afforded 

 even at a much lower rate, but in this estimate the labour of those 

 who are employed as shepherds is no doubt calculated as being that 

 of convicts, and it may be questionable whether when this source of 

 labour fails, the price will be a remunerating one. 



The flocks of sheep kept near Wellington are pastured beyond the 

 legal limits, which is a meridian line, in the neighbourhood of that 

 place. Beyond this line the government refuses to make any grants 

 of land ; but any respectable inhabitant, on the payment of ten 

 pounds, may obtain a license to pasture his flocks beyond this arti- 

 ficial boundary. 



Each flock consists of from five hundred to a thousand sheep, 

 and is under the care of a single shepherd. There are usually 

 two flocks to each station, where a servant is employed as hut- 

 keeper. The cost of these when convicts, is no more than their 

 food and clothing, which is, however, rendered greater than would 

 at first seem probable, by the necessity of bringing even flour from 

 Sydney. 



The land and labour may, however, be put down at an expense 

 merely nominal, for the increase of the flocks at present more than 

 counterbalances this item; but this advantage will cease when the 

 assigned convicts are withdrawn from the colony ; the wages of a 

 hired servant will then amount to from seventeen to twenty pounds a 

 year, exclusive of his clothing and food. 



The cost of a sheep varies much in different parts of the colony ; 

 the average price is from three shillings to one pound, so that the 

 outlay for the smallest flock would be from seventy-five to five hun- 

 dred pounds. Comparing this with the price of wool, (eighteen pence 

 per pound,) an estimate may be formed of the probable profits. 



The climate seems peculiarly well adapted to a fine-woolled sheep, 

 and it is calculated that the flocks double themselves in three or four 

 years. In 1807, the quantity of wool exported was not more than 

 two hundred and forty-five pounds, in 1838 and 1839 it exceeded five 



