14
clip of 1865, it gives a yield of very nearly three pounds per sheep, and averaging the quantity at the rate of one shilling and sixpence per pound (which I am advised is not an excessive average), we arrive at the value of £2,254,628.
It is a point worth noticing in connection with our export of wool, that over 37 per cent of the clip was shipped last year at the ports of Melbourne and Adelaide. Certainly a very large proportion, and suggestive of careful consideration as to the means to be adopted to intercept this traffic, and bring it down to our own ports; for it must be recollected that it is not only the loss connected with the export of this produce which we suffer, but the loss upon the importation, agency, and other business connected with the return supplies to the stations.
I have not the means of testing the accuracy of the returns of horses and cattle, and must therefore accept the figures as stated in the statistical tables. And here it is only fair to the Registrar-General to state that he is dependent on the police for the collection of his annual returns of agriculture and live-stock, and that he cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of information, over the collection of which he has no control whatever. If the returns are accurate they show a diminution in the number of cattle in the colony. We started in 1860 with 2,190,976, and we find ourselves in 1866 with only 1,961,905. I cannot say that the
