268 



Parliamentary Publications. 



with the year 1 896. The number of cattle, sheep, and swine 

 exported to Great Britain are given as under : — 



Description. 



1896. 



1897. 



j Store cattle 



All other cattle, including calves 

 Sheep and lambs . . . . 



Fat swine - 



Store swine - . . - . 



349,800 

 331,760 

 737,306 

 574,677 

 35,912 



419,302 

 326,710 

 804,515 

 653,459 

 41,848 



With regard to the dairy industry, it appears that the 

 number of factories from which statistics w^ere obtained in 

 1897 was 324, being an increase of 45 as compared with the 

 number returned in 1896, and that the number of hands 

 permanently employed amounted to 2,692, or 487 more than 

 the number for 1896. Of the 324 factories, 132 were owned 

 by individual proprietors, 107 were the property of joint stock 

 companies, and 85 belonged to co-operative farmers. Nearly 

 four-fifths of the total number were in Munster. In the 324 

 factories there were 668 milk separators, of w^hich 568 were 

 worked by steam-powder. The quantity of butter returned as 

 produced during the year ended September 30th, 1897, was 

 294,105 cwts., against 274,592 cwts. in the preceding year, 

 together with 500 cwts. of cheese and 187,326 cwts. of 

 condensed milk. The quantity of milk manipulated during" 

 the year was 88,774,085 gallons, or over 21 million gallons 

 more than in 1896. The skim milk is in nearly all cases 

 returned to the farmers. 



