THE DROUGHT

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 146, 18 December 1919, Page 4

THE DROUGHT

HIGH HOPES OF BAIN

(FSOU OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) / SYDNEY, 3rd December

By the time this reaches New Zealand the cables will have said whether the high hopes that are to-day (3rd December) being entertained for the breaking of the, drought are justified. The country is at this moment right on the edge of disaster. The losses, already, have been terribly severe. All the stock on wide areas in the west and north-west have been wiped out, and hundreds of farmers' are already ruined; but, even now, if the rains come, the State, with that marvellous capacity for recovery that is so entirely Australian, will as a ■whole fare not so badly.

The meteorologists are to-day sounding a more hopeful note than has been the case for months past. There have been heavy rains along the coast, at intervals, but the well-soaked coastal strip does not want them. But during the past few days the rain area has been creeping westward over the drought country. The slowness and hesitancy of the creep, however, constitute a most hopeful sign. There is no virtue, say the weather-wise, in a sudden heavy soaking rain that lasts for a brief time, and is followed by scorching sunshine again. The rains that, matter in this country are those that come slowly, in misty showers, and hang about for quite a while. That is the rain that the meteorologists say appears to be developing to-day. They use scientific terms, which boil down to the fact that this rain is creeping slowly over the dry belts at a time when monsbonal activity is generally on the increase. There is at this time of the year every reason to hope for continuing and widespread rain; y/hereas, had the development come later, when monsoonal activity is on the ■wane, the country could hope for little benefit from it.