DROUGHT IN NEW SOUTH WALES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 123, 18 February 1919, Page 5

DROUGHT IN NEW SOUTH WALES

:• SERIOUS LOSSES.-IN-STOCK.-. . (Rec. February 17, 10 p.m.) ' Sydney, February 17. Terrific heat during the past few days, exceeding a hundred'degrees in many places, • has intensified the; widespread drought, -which promises to'-eclipse that of 1901. ail parts of the State report serious losses in'stock and fruit-owing, to the lack of water.—Press Assn.

Mr'.:W.E. Abbott, Wingen, writes to the, Sydney "Daily 'Telegraph" drawing attention' to the similarity between the present drought and that of 1877, accordto his records. "These two droughts, he" says, "began in February, and at the end of six months, on July 31, the average rainfall was a little, less than one inch per month—s72 aiid 577 points, respectively. At , the end of eleven months, on December '31, the average was o> little over one inch per month—llsß and 1176 points,'-respectively.' For January of this year, at Wingen, the rainfall has been 293 points, so that if this drought breaks up completely-in. the next few weeks., of which there is every' prospect, , the drought of 1877 will still be the worst on record on the Upper Hunter. The drought of 1888 is usually quoted as the lowest rain Tecord for any year on the Upper Hunter, but that Iβ because it is the only drought on the record of 41 years- which 'began in January ord ended on December 31. The drought -of 1877 gave 1190 points for. twelve months ,and qix days, and, that of 1888 for.the same number of months and days gave 1272 points. .- .'■ ■ ■■■ . ' * " Droughts—that is, rainfalls of about an inch a month for six or/even months -Tare not infrequent on the Upper Hunter, and such droughts are, I think, on the whole, beneficial to stock-owners, exnept in cases of reckless over-stocking. Droughts of months, ,whioh, are likely to cause, serious .'stock .losses, according to my records do "not seem to fall into any of the cycle theories, as they occurred in 1877-78, 1838-89, 1901-02, and 1918-19.

"In the present drought on the.Upper Hunter, water has not dried out aa it did in earlier droughts. This is most obviously due to the general rjngbnvking of the Upper Hunter area, which has been done in the last 30 or 40 years, and which has almost invariably had the effect' of producing running streams where there,was. no permanent water before. In referring to the Upper Hunter, I m«nn only the drainage area of the Huniter River above Muswellbrook. My rnin record, vhich goes back. to May, .1876, seems to show that the worst stock-owners havo to fear on the Upper Hunter is a drought that will only' give a rainfall of , about one inch per month for' twelve mouths, and that hns only happened-four times in my Tecord. Under these circumstances, it shonld be possible,-by- moderate stocking, to provide against serious losses, but I doubt if this can be done in our western areas,' where the seasons are so much more irregular; and where the soft plains country cute up so quickly. , "