464 



Trade of Australasia. 



that the southern districts will eventually be largely occupied 

 by sheep runs, and that the northern territories will probably 

 be found suitable for the breeding of cattle and horses. 



The United Kingdom purchases the bulk of the wool 

 exported from Australasia. 



It will have been anticipated from the preceding paragraphs 

 that the exports of dead meat from the seven Australian colo- 

 nies consist for the most part of frozen mutton, of which con- 

 siderable quantities are shipped annually to British ports. 

 New Zealand enjoys the largest share of this trade, furnish- 

 ing about 75 per cent, of the total quantity exported, while 

 New South Wales contributes the bulk of the remaining 

 25 per cent.* Frozen and preserved beef is exported to the 

 value of between ;£7oo,ooo and £1,000,000, mainly from 

 Queensland and New South Wales. In this connection it 

 may be noted that the former colony possesses over 50 per 

 cent, of the 13 millions of horned stock existing in 

 Australasia. 



Relatively to the size of her flocks, New South Wales 

 exports remarkably small quantities of mutton : sheep being 

 still there kept mainly for their wool, and the carcases 

 of large numbers of them being converted into tallow in 

 default of a better method of disposal. This circumstance 

 affords a partial explanation of the large exports of tallow 

 from the colony, which amount in value to nearly ;£750,ooo 

 annually, or about half the sum at which the total exports 

 of this article are estimated in the above statement. The 

 other half is shared in almost equal proportions by Victoria, 

 Queensland, and New Zealand. 



New South Wales has also the largest interest in the ex- 

 port trade in skins and hides, which is made up for the most 

 part of sheep skins. Hides are exported in very small quan- 

 tities, mainly from Queensland. 



Australasia is, as we have already seen, mainly a pastoral 

 country, but a diversified system of agriculture is tending to 

 become more and more important in the rural economy of 



* Information relating to the frozen mutton trade of Australasia will be found in 

 article on the Frozen Mutton Trade of New South Wales, published in Vol. II., 

 No. 2 (September, 1895), of this Journal. 



