The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-09-23
LIVESTOCK BUSINESS IN AUSTRALIA BEING
 INJURED BY THE WAR
Cattle Raisers Are Depend ent on Export Trade and This Is Almost Entire
 ly Cut Off

Sydney. Australia, August So.-(Corre- spondence of the Associated Press)-@As the Australian live stock industry oe pends upon the export trade, and as the war exigencies. including German sup ,,ar,na onerations have brought about the greatest dearth of tonnage the Ar tipodes have ever known, cattle men III the commonwealth have become alarAheo regarding the future of their Dusliless
 The prime minister, William M' Hughes, speaking in Parliament recently conceded that so far as he coulo see there was no solution of a problem con fronting live stock owners normally en- gagged in producing meat for export
 That problem is what to do With theii surplus meat. Weekly the gravity oA the situation increases. Under ordinary conditions Australian supplies or meat far exceed domestic demand, but tnanks to refrigeration abroad there IS VirtuaHy unlimited trade. But war time want or vessels has resulted in closing overseas markets and the filling of domestic re- frigerating plants to repletion.
 As regards this state. New sou'h Wales. there Is usually heavy ln- craase in the supplies of live stock sent to Sydney about october and Novemoer' when the sheep shearing season IS over and cattle men are preparing 10 reouoo their herds and flocks. II this course is followed this year, reduction m VaIueS is inevitable. On the other nano, pres ent prospects are that the coming sum mer will not be drouthy and 1t wili' therefore. be 2 good holding" season.
 MT. Hughes advised pastoralists ana rraziera to "adjust their business py maintaining their flocks and herds TOT sometime on the hoof-" But If the sum mer is favorable and perforce the prime minister's advice is taken, serious losses will be entailed, especially In view or a recent decision by the commonwealth ar bitratiop court at Melbourne lncreaslns the wages of ranch hands py apout sA'- 100000 in the aggregate
 In the adjoining state of Queeniano' the foremost cattle state in the common wealth, the situation is even more per t,1rbing. The Queensland packing plants. some of which are American owned, are full, and it is upon their op- eration that live stock owners rely. Moreover, the presence of cattle tlck III some border districts of the state ana the plentiful supply of meat in New
  direction. !.
 In general cattle men are worse ofr than sheep men because the latter nave a potential market for wool. In this com nection, Premier Hughes recently fur nished Parliament with statistics sh~ ing that the large sum of $1S0,oo0'oe WIS realized for Australia's wool onFAls ts4 wool season which ended tNs A Ans premier reviewed the epeA As s
 scheme by which ausn
 ment communicated 9 a ss oa was wa tae
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 asa s8 sfia brought 4adat Ire gsAssre cat...Seaa Eng ss eg sMett9r @Na + vate arrangement in the .nlcl ..4arss ts Of the commonwealth, Sydney. Mel bourne, Geelong, Brisbane, Adelaide, Ho- bart and Perth, from July to November 23 1916, amounted to about so1, 40,000 or a total by sale and appraisement of s17S,- $40, 0O0 In addition some wools were shipped to London which did not fall within the acquisition scheme or appear in the supplies catalogued and sold in interstate markets. The acquisition ac- counted for approximately 1,114,6SS bales at about sl1o bale.
 Such benefits to wool growers during time when embargoes ordered by the British government operated against ex- ports to neutrals and when German sub- marines initiated against shipping facili- ties to the United Kingdom and allied countries are considered remarkable.
 Mr. Hughes explained that the coming seasons clip had been acquired by Great Britain nndar conditions similar to those which prevailed in the wool year of 1916-17. The central wool committee at Melbourne Is already in possession of reports from the state committees as to the working of the scheme last season with a view to rectifying defects in it. These relate to appraisement methods and to relative values of classes of wool. Consequently 1t is believed that the ma chinery of acquisition during the season of 1917-1S will be much more efficient than whom 1t was installed in January, last.