GREAT MORTALITY AMONGST STOCK.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13562, 25 October 1909, Page 8

GREAT MORTALITY AMONGST STOCK.

It was stated by visitors to town that country sheep owners have suffered very considerable loss among 6horn sheep and lambs. One -man says that in the Little River district there are hundreds of dead sheep and lambs in the paddocks. It is impossible to accurately estimate tbe loss of sheep on the Cashmere Estate, but it can be stated pc»itively that the loss is serious, lhe station was in the middle of shearing, and the shorn sbeep on the hills would have very little chance of weathering tbe bitter storm. The sheep on the hillside near the Consumption banatorium, and many more in the back paddocks suffered very severely. It is estimated that the station lost over one thousand sheep, including eight or nine hundred half-bred Leicester ewes, bred from merinos and English Leicesters at Culverden. These sheep were on Hassell's Spur, near the Consumption Sanatorium, and were exposed to the full force of the storm. The loss of these valuable sheep is even more serious than it appears, as probably an eoual number of lambs are motherless. The sheep which were nearer the homestead also suffered, and even where manuka scrub gave seme shelter, the animals perished from exposure. A resident out on the Hills informed our reporter that he saw some hundreds of sheep in a creek near the Sanatorium, their bodies practically blocking the bed of the creek. Cashmere shears rather earlier than the country stations, and it was of course very unfortunate that this blisxard should come along. Several sheep men say that it is the worst that has been experienced for ten years at this season, and certainly the experience is tho worst that has ever befallen Cashmere. On the low-lying land of the estate fiee paddocks of English grass and one in wrheat wero submerged. In some places fences four feet high were just visible above the flood waters. Other (iettlers near the estate have also suffered considerable damage to their stock and. 'flocks. THE TELEGRAPH SERVICE. The storm interfered to some extent with the telegraph and telephone services. The wind was responsible for sortie of the wires coming down, and in other cases falling trees did some damage. The extent of the interruptions, however, was less than might hate been anticipated.