REPORT OF STOCK INSPECTOR. 669 
QUEENSLAND, 1879 .- 
At the close of 1877 I had to report a decrease of 710,715 
sheep on the previous year. I regret to have to report a 
further decrease at the end of 1878 of 558,738. 
This decrease would appear to be solely the result of the 
late protracted drought. Very heavy losses have been re¬ 
ported, particularly amongst travelling flocks. 
In other respects the colony has enjoyed a greater immunity 
from sheep diseases of every description during the past year 
than during any similar period since the passing of the present 
Act in 1868. 
Hitherto, in my annual reports, I have arranged the num¬ 
bers of sheep according to the pastoral districts in which they 
were kept, the returns up to the present year having been 
made to the Commissioners of Crown Lands, and assessment 
forwarded direct to the Treasury by the owners. By direc¬ 
tion of the Treasury, however, the returns are now made 
and assessment paid to the clerks of petty sessions nearest 
the runs on which the sheep are pastured, so that in the 
present report I have arranged the numbers, for the first 
time, according to the districts of petty sessions to which 
they were respectively returned. 
For convenience of reference I have grouped these districts 
so as to show the number of sheep in the southern, central, 
and northern divisions of the colony respectively—the 
southern division comprising the pastoral districts bordering 
on New South Wales, with Wide Bay and Burnett added, 
and the northern division comprising the three great pas¬ 
toral districts of Kennedy, Burke, and Cook. 
Hitherto there has been a considerable discrepancy 
between the number of sheep on which assessment has been 
paid and those published in the Reports of the Registrar- 
General, the latter being considerably in excess of those 
returned to this office. From this it might be inferred that 
a considerable number of sheep annually escape assessment. 
I am not, however, inclined to adopt that view, but rather 
to attribute the difference to the fact that round numbers are 
in many instances returned to the Registrar-General where 
exact numbers are returned and paid for under the Sheep 
Act. 
The number of sheep in the colony on 1st January last, 
on which assessment was paid at the various offices of petty 
sessions, was as under : 
I .—Southern Division , 
comprising the pastoral districts of Moreton, Wide Bay and 
Burnett, Darling Downs, Maranoa, and Warrego, 
