Wool.

As pointed out in my North Island lecture, this beautiful country is essentially a grazing and agricultural country. I dealt with the dairy industry, but must now turn to the production of wool. It seems incredible that the products of the docile, harmless sheep should assume such enormous proportions. When, however, we consider that there are no less than 11,399 several flocks of sheep varying from 500 and under to over 20,000 each, of which latter there are no less than 160 flocks, and that the sheep of the colony totalled over 18,117,000 last year, page 29 we may begin to realise how vast is the industry. The produce of wool from these sheep was last year over 105½-million pounds weight, of which nearly three million pounds were used by local woollen mills, while 102½ million pounds, of the value of £4,159,000, were exported. The rapidity with which this trade is expanding may be noted from the fact that the increase in the production, despite the enormous export of frozen meat, was 6,326,000 pounds on the year.