Sheep Returns.

Manawatu Times, Volume VIII, Issue 352, 1 September 1883, Page 2

Sheep Returns.

(Manavratu Herald.) The annnal sheep returns for the i colony have just been presentsd to Parliament, and some interesting information in regard to the " mutton industry " of the country may be gleaned from then. The total number of sheep in the colony on the 31st May was 12,408,106, showing an increase of 117,891 on the numbers of the previous year, the principal increase being in i he Wellington, Napier, and Canterbury districts. The number of owners now is 7,064, with an increase of 207 on tne previous year. In the Otago district, a diminution in the number of sheep has taken place, owiug to the abandonment of several runs by reason of the rabbit pest. The number in the county of Manawatu is 181,890. The largest flock in Manawatu is that of the Oroua Downs station, returned at 13,791, showing an increase of over 3000 in two years. Messrs Davies and Stuart come next -with 8060, their numbers showing a decrease of 500 in the previous year Mr 3?. Larkworthy, with 7,970 on the Carnarvon and Moutoa Estates, is the third, I our member, Mr J. . Gv Wilson, ranking fourth in the country, with | 6,383, Mr H. M'Donald, of Horos i whenua, following very close with 6000. Messrs Braithwaite and Kebbell, H. Hammond (Waitohi), and James Bull each own flocks numbering between three and four thousand, and the rest have various numbers tapering down to Mr Croucher's (Sandon) flock of 5, Messrs Hayns' and Tanner's (both Palmerstou) of 3, and Mr Standen's (Oroua) o^ 2 ! The increase in the country for the two years for which the return is given was nearly 40,000 The largest increase in an individual flock was that of the one on the Moutoa estate, which in 1880 was 96, and in 1882 was returned aa 4,688. But our local flocks appear very small compared with Mr G. H. Moore's (Amberley), of 95,000, or the Hon. Bobert Campbell's one of the next highest, at Waimate (Canterbury), wiiieh totalled 60,000, save 1000. Evidently there need be no fear that the frozen meat trade will run the colony short of mutton for some little time to jcome, at any rate.