269 



PRICES OF LIVE STOCK 

 Returned Under the Weighing of Cattle Act. 



Returns of prices collected under the Markets and Fairs 

 (Weighing of Cattle) Act, 1891, for the second quarter of the 

 year 1897 are now available, and the following comparisons 

 with previous data, similarly supplied to the Board of Agri- 

 culture, are published for general information. The total 

 numbers of animals returned as entering, weighed, and priced 

 at the nineteen places in Great Britain scheduled under the 

 statute, in the second three months of 1895, 1896, and 1897 

 compare as follows : — 





2nd 



2nd 



2nd 



Animals. 



Quarter, 



Quarter, 



Quarter, 





1897. 



1896. 



1895. 



Cattle : 



No. 



No. 



No. 



Entering markets 



280,275 



268,864 



298,040 



Weighed ----- 



29,685 



28,859 



26,063 



Prices returned . - - - 



27,728 



27,201 



23,505 



Prices returned with quality dis- 



20,941 



19,737 



15,996 



tinguished 









Sheep : 









Entering markets 



1,119,015 



1,136,350 



1,131,996 





13,336 



13,130 



10,929 



Prices returned with quality dis- 



12,060 



11,425 



5,583 



tinguished. 









Swine : 









Entering markets 



30,423 



58,670 



58,943 



Weighed - - - 



471 



1,634 



636 



Prices returned - 



213 



620 



301 



Prices returned with quality dis- 



213 



620 





tinguished 









The total numbers weighed thus continue to show a slight 

 increase in cattle and in sheep, but the cases in which pigs 

 were weighed in this quarter are again much fewer. As, 

 however, the whole number of cattle entering the nineteen 



