701 



invested, and this much can probably not 

 bo said of another live biisiiu s.ses in tlie 

 State. 



Of factories and creameries there are in 

 Victoria : — 



Factories. Creameries 

 Co operative Compmies ... 116 270 

 Pr. prictary Companies ... 33 €U 

 Private Firms ... ... 89 42 



238 372 



Shorthorn Recollections, 



"JAVELIN," in the "Live Stoclc 

 d Journal " writes : — 

 Mr. William Torr, so widely known as 

 Torr of Aylesby, was one of the best 

 farmers and one of the greatest breeders 

 of Shorthorns that ever lived in England. 

 He was a born judge in the same sense as 

 we say that a poet is born, not made. He 

 was liberal in his views, catholic in his 

 tastes ; he began to breed, and for a long 

 time pursued his course as a breeder, be- 

 fore there was any fashion, such as 

 became in later i.iraes so severely mani- 

 fested and so powerful. He knew good 

 cattle when he saw them, and being en- 

 tirely free from bigotry and the prejudices 

 belonging to it which warp men's judg- 

 ment, he collected the foundations of his 

 herd and made additions to it subse- 

 quently, according to the best of his 

 lights. He arrived at conclusions upon 

 - what he considered sound and sufficient 

 data, and once he formed his opinion he 

 could not be shaken. He was, in a word, 

 a pre-eminently strong man. His energy 

 was enormous, and his spirit masterful, if 

 not despotic. 



As a judge at the great shows in the 

 three kingdoms, his services were greatly 

 in request. He quickly made up his 

 mind, after due examination, as to the 

 merits of the animals placed before him 

 in the ring, and his decisions upon them, 

 once formed, were never altered by his 

 colleagues when they happened to differ 

 from him. At an early date he strongly 

 admired cattle of Booth blood, and in the 

 'forties jhe considered that Mr. John 

 Jiooth's herd at Killerby was, beyond 

 question, the best small herd in England. 

 He was, however, a strong admirer of Mr. 

 Bates's strains, and while he regarded Mr. 

 John Booth's Bracelet as the best cow he 

 ever saw, he placed Mr. Bates's Duke of 

 Northumberland in the same lofty posi- 



tion among bulls. He purchased one of 

 the Kirklevington Waterloos to found a 

 tribe at Aylesby, and this tribe he held to 

 the last in high esteem. Many Royal 

 winners issued from the Aylesby Water- 

 loos when shown by Lord Polwarth, Mr. 

 Beattie, of Newbie, and others. A Booth 

 tribe, that of the Studley Old Anna, came 

 to Aylesby io the person of the handsome 

 cow Rennet, which Mr. I'orr purchased 

 very cheaply at Mr. Marjoribank's sale in 

 consequence of her being lame, Mr. 

 Harvey Coombe offered him on the even- 

 ing after the sale doable the price he had 

 paid for her. She was the foundress of 

 the great Riby tribe which became so 

 famous. 



When staying with Mr. Torr in the 

 early 'seventies, he, in the kindest man- 

 ner, gave me a great deal of information 

 acquired by his long and distinguished 

 experience, and plainly showed me that 

 he was not a bigot as to pedigree. He 

 felt bound, however, to admit that he 

 thought it prudent to cater, to some 

 extent, to the fashion ; but nothing 

 could induce him to buy or to 

 use in his herd an animal which he 

 thought a "wrong one." He spoke in 

 very high terms of the grand animals 

 which he saw in Mr. Bates's herd, and said 

 that that gentleman's cattle were, at the 

 time of his death, of great merit. He 

 mentioned that he was very anxious to 

 buy Duchess ^lih. at the sale held after 

 Mr. Bates's decease. Mr. Richard Booth 

 and he went there witli the intention of 

 buying that cow in partnership, of going 

 halves, so to speak. Mr. Booth, however, 

 considered that Duchess .').5th was a doubt- 

 ful breeder, and accordingly they did not 

 bid for her. This opinion proved errone- 

 ous, as she afterwards bred, and Mr, Torr 

 expressed himself as very sorry that they 

 had lost her. 



