218 GENERAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES. [Dec. 1894. 



XIV.— GENERAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES. 

 Live Stock. — Queensland. 



In the Report of the Registrar- General of Queensland on the 

 returns of agriculture and live stock in that Colony for the year 

 1893, it is stated that the numbers of the various kinds of live 

 stock in the Colony at the end of 1893 were : — Horses, 429,734 ; 

 horned cattle, 6,693,200 ; sheep, 18,697,015 : and pigs, 68,086. 

 These figures as compared with those of 1892, indicate an increase 

 in horses and cattle of 7,000 and 100,000 respectively, and a 

 decrease of 3,0U0,000 in the number of sheep, and of 50,000 in 

 the stock of swine. 



In explanation of the fall in the numbers of sheep and swine, 

 it is regarded as probable that the ownership of live stock, 

 which involved increased taxation under " The Meat and Dairy 

 Produce Encouragement Act of 1893," made proprietors more 

 careful in compiling returns of stock than hitherto, which, no 

 doubt, occasioned a shrinkage in the numbers given in the 

 schedule, the figures for previous years having been, perhaps 

 through carelessness or otherwise, rather over than under-stated. 



As regards horses, the present supply is considered to be more 

 than sufficient for the requirements of the Colony ; and unless a 

 considerable market outside Queensland should be found, any 

 extended increase in the number of this description of stock is 

 neither to be looked for nor desired. A small outlet, however, 

 has been lately opened up with India, and it is thought probable 

 that this trade is capable of expansion. 



From the small per-centage of increase in cattle, and the con- 

 siderable per-centage of loss in sheep, it will be at once perceived 

 that the returns for 1893 show most unsatisfactorily when 

 compared with those of the previous year. Two causes, it is 

 believed, have conjointly operated to bring this about — namely, 

 first, the losses by drought ; and, secondly, a desire rather to 

 under-state than to exaggerate the number owned by each 

 proprietor. 



In view of the low prices ruling for cattle, and the difficulties 

 of finding a profitable market for the surplus, the falling-oflP in 

 the increase is for the present not regarded as a matter of much 

 moment ; but with respect to sheep it is difierent, and in con- 

 sideration of the value of that animal for wool production, the 

 loss in this kind of live stock, if the returns can be strictly 

 relied upon, is felt to be one of grave import. 



The increase in sheep for the previous two years is stated to 

 have been at the rate of about 10 per cent, per annum, but in 

 1893 there was a decresise of 13 per cent., making an apparent 

 deficit in the latter year, as conapared with the progress of 1891 



