X.—Wool.

Above three-fifths value of the total exports from the colony consist in wool, and the rate of increase in sheep above stated does not correspond with the percentage increase in the weight or value of wool exported during ten years, viz.:—

The reason of the increase in weight and value being greater than the increase in the number of sheep, is due to three causes :—1st, to improvement of the flocks by the ordinary process of culling; 2nd, to crossing the breed; and, 3rd, to improved pasture, by fencing and laying down English perennial grasses.

[000's omitted.]