H—29

Christchurch : Merino, half-bred, and crossbred clips are well represented in this district, and all types were well grown and light in condition and showing only slight vegetable fault. As the season advanced, however, and the later-shorn clips came in they were found to be dusty and were touched with burr. Oddments were good to average but touched with burr. Timaru: This district, embracing as it does most of the large Merino sheep-runs, shows some very good Merino wqpl each year, and this year has been no exception, the wool being well grown and showing plenty of quality. Half-bred wool was also well grown and even in quality, though these wools were not as attractive as were earlier offerings from other districts. Crossbreds opened .up disappointingly, being inclined to be " mushy " and heavy in condition. Oddments were good to average from all types of wool. Dunedin : It has been a good wool season for this district. The sales have shown that the offering was good- to average-style wools in all qualities. The wool was well grown and was exceptionally sound in all crossbred wools, and the oddments of the clips were good. Merino and quarter-bred wools were a little heavy in condition but were soft handling and even in quality. In the first sale the hogget wools were very sound in staple, but later these inclined to be a bit tender. Invercargill: In previous years the ewe and wether wool from this district has been weak in the staple, but this year that fault was very little in evidence. The selection this year was well grown, bright and light in condition, and the oddments of the clip were of good to average grading and at least 2 per cent, higher yielding than last season. A table showing New Zealand sales, weights, and values for the last five years follows ; no figures are yet available for the 1948-49 period :

Rabbit Nuisance As predicted in last year's report, the Rabbit Destruction Council, which came into office on sth April, 1948, has already proved of inestimable value in fostering the constitution of additional rabbit districts. During the past year 16 new districts were constituted, involving a total area of 2,382,000 acres. Some 122 Rabbit Boards are now operating, covering an area of 20,729,367 acres and concerning approximately 23,761 ratepayers. The fact that rabbit districts have been constituted voluntarily in the Central Otago and Mackenzie districts, where previously little progress in this direction was made, augurs well for the ultimate complete coverage by rabbit districts of all rabbit-infested areas in the Dominion. Previously it was found impossible to form, rabbit districts in back-country areas of low stock production, mainly because the land was not capable of standing an incidence of rating to return sufficient revenue to enable a " killer " policy to be carried out by a Rabbit Board. These areas were usually worked by free-lance rabbiters, who confined their activities to the late autumn and winter, when the skins were most valuable. This system simply tended to perpetuate the rabbit in these areas. The recent statutory provision for the payment of

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Season. Number of Bales sold. Net Weight. Gross Value. Average per Bale. Average per Pound. lb. £ £ s. d. d. 1943-44 930,694 316,152,540 19,424,253 20 17 5 14-74 1944-45 1,038,019 357,606,520 22,013,258 21 4 1 14-77 1945-46 1,022,124 349,365,289 21,552,153 21 1 9 14-80 1946-47 934,730 308,347,839 23,136,014 24 15 0 18-00 1947-48 844,522 286,004,976 29,868,425 35 7 4 25-06