124 



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 first three months of 

 1898 are now available for comparison with previous data 

 similarly obtained. By new Orders under the statute above 

 quoted, which came into operation on the i st of January last, 

 Carlisle and Falkirk were added to the former number of 19 

 scheduled places in Great Britain. From the accounts ren- 

 dered it appears that somewhat over 12,600 cattle, nearly 

 50,000 sheep, and nearly 3,900 swine were shown in the newly 

 added markets, and including these figures the total number 

 of animals returned to the Board of Agriculture as entering, 

 weighed, and priced was as follows in the first quarter of 

 1 898, and in the first quarters of the two preceding years : — 





1st 



1st 



1st 



Animals. 



Quarter, 



Quarter, 



Quarter, 





1898. 



1897. 



1896. 



Cattle : 



No. 



No. 



No. 



Entering markets - - . 



275,588 



260,778 



260,823 





31,073 



26,672 



26,190 



Prices returned .... 



27,953 



24,274 



23,709 



Prices returned with quality dis- 



23,668 



18,591 



17,916 



tinguished. 





Sheep : 









Entering markets 



758,922 



744,927 



738,502 





11,237 



8,711 



10,116 



Prices returned with quality dis- 



8,762 



8,047 



8,881 



tinguished. 









Swine : 









Entering markets ... 



80,904 



43,012 



61,745 





349 



335 



740 



Prices returned with quality dis- 



231 



168 



308 



tinguished. 





An increase is again exhibited in the number of cattle and 

 of sheep for which weights and 'prices were given, the 

 additional numbers being only partly due to the number of 

 cattle returned from Carlisle and Falkirk, and wholly inde- 

 pendent of the reports from these new markets in the case of 

 sheep, of which none seem to have been weighed in these 



Noi'E. — The figures for 1898 include the returns from Carlisle and Falkirk. 



