THE AWFUL DROUGHT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 136, 7 June 1912, Page 8

THE AWFUL DROUGHT.

SOT A JBTtA-TTjE OP GRASS. The Sydney "Evening ■Sews" pnibiish.es a letter from Mr A. H. Bargmann, of Bogga.bri, containing a distressing account of tire drought in the northwest. jMx Bnrgmann writes:— "The Boggabri district, at the present tine, is .undergoing a most trying experience. The drought, which holds sway upon tbds fertile land, is being keenly felt by the residente. The -winter being now upon us, the present ontlook appears very gloomy. Not a blade of green grass or a, vesidge of anything is to be seen. 'The rich black soil country now has the appearance of a vast plongied paddock. People living on. the coast, and places -where droughts do not affect, cannot realise the awfulness of this count rv in a drought. Wells that never failed in the 1902 drought are now giving out, and people have to cart water many miles for stock and domestic purposes- Stock that have not been removed to more favoured places have a, 'bad time aihead. If rain does fall now, large numbers ■would din. Already scores are dying from starvation. "At the present price of fodder, those people who are feeding stock are being put to a great amount of expense. Last month was the driest on record in the Boggabri district, and during the month of May now closing only eight pointe of rain have fallen. For the last 14 months only 11 inches have been recorded." MIL WRAGGE'S FORECAST. Mr. Clement Wragge supplies the following:—"Calculations indicate that temporary breaks in the (Australian drought will occut between the middle of August and October. This by no means indicates that the drought will altogether break at that time—it simply implies intervening rains due to lunar tides as already predicted. Most urgently do I again adviaj farmers and pastoraJists to dam creeks and gullies without an.y delay whatever. Therein lies their salvation. To allow intervening rain at this juncture to rim to waste would be almost criminal. Owing to the numerous local climates prevailing in Australia—a fart that I have always insisted upon —the conditions forecasted will be modified or intensified owing to local pbysiographical features."