DRY WEATHER. ITS EFFECTS IN THE COUNTRY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 29, 4 February 1908, Page 4

DRY WEATHER. ITS EFFECTS IN THE COUNTRY.

SCARCITI* OF BUTTER. PASTORAL PROSPECTS. V A prominent man in the butter trado informed a Post reporter yesterday that fncro ivos a big shorta&e 'of buttei- supraiea ting year, and that the available quaatiliee in the principal dairying .districts 'of tho WelHrigtbn and Taranaki provinces we'ro much below the level of ordinary seasons. The dairj'ing districts from Wairarapa, right through to Hawkes Bay wcro also in bad plight, fttid wholesale dealers were finding it difficult., to obtain spriplies equal, to local ■ retailers' demands.) As. to orders from jrfbroad, tbir£ was -apparently, our informant stated, no^hope of fulfilment; for them. A South African firm recently cabled for & supply of butter at the rate of 250 boxes per month, and ' at 12id per pound, and this chance, it jvaa stated, was "hawked' 1 all. round Wellington^ fcitftoufc elieititfg a , single offer to t^lie tho business. fSomo New Zealand firms which have made forv^ar4 contracts fqr supply, of butts/ to- 1 English wholesale houses are now in straits to fulfil their obligations, tho statft of semi-drought prevailing around these parts having upset all advance i.vilculations as to probable quantities of dairy outputs. THE BtodFotTLOOK. RAIN BADLY NEEDED. Scarcity of butler, as result of driec]- ! up • pastures/ js not the only woe of the .farmers just row. Tat lambs are likely to be scarcer thsfl'usnal this seasoli, and it is reported fr'oni Marlborough that stock is already being rushed ta the market and to freezing Vdfks ir abnormally large quantities, aa a result of the dry '\vfeather c&tidit&ns.. In. t£a . Wellington province there has been 'frequent tomplaiiit amongst fanners' about the dryjlefes of thfc sea3ott> but tho fow show* ors ihht haVo lataJ^Vj bfedn e!tperj^nced in tlie up couiitry districts' haVo helped to make' ths' feitualion less critical thail WQuld bayo been th 6' oapo' if t?io drought had contin\ied uninterrupted. So far the' quality, of the glock coming forward has , De^en well , up to the- a vet-ago, foS dry feed causes no deterioration when water ia, to bs had freely by the stock, b.ut it is feared that any further long con* in naive oi dry weather *ill #iake fe^d so scarce that f-uonk will have to 'be" sent on -to the market. Enquiries mads by a Post reporter yesterday, from reliable sources, proved that so far the quantity of stock coming to Wellington' lias not exceeded the quantity railed in last year up to the end of January — which, it will be remembered, was a dry month succeeding a dry month.