BAD TIMES

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 109, 9 May 1923, Page 11

BAD TIMES

IN WESTERN NEW SOUTH WALES

STOCK. ROUTES BARE OF GRASS.

The effecte of the drought in the farwest of. New South Wales are becoming serious,, but while conditions there are grim they are .not desperate, according to the Rev. S. J. Kirkby, organising secretary" of the Bush Church Aid Socists. who has just returned from a month's tour of the country lying behind White Cliffs, ilenjndie, and Wiloannia (says the "Sydney Morning Herald").

The patchy rains that fell last Christmas had in many places saved the situation for the time being, he said, but unless rain came very soon drought as disastrous as that of 1919-20 staved the people of the far-west in the face. As an instance" of the abnormal conditions prevailing, he mentioned that in the Wilcannia district, where the rainfall in- ordinary seasons averaged 8 inches, there had been 1.29 inch of rain in June, 1921, and no more rain till last Christmas, when there had been a fall of 2.69 inches. Nearer Menindie, however, there had been no such Christmas blessing. In that parched area there had been'no rain for nearly two years. Over vast stretches of country the stock routes were bare of feed, and in come cases the stock tanks were dry. Yet the people, sadly stricken as some had been, were not downhearted. One of the fine signs was to see them cleaning out the 'now empty tanks, and making them deeper. It was an indication of the faith they had. There were fine pastoral areas in the far west, and the recuperative powers of the country were astonishing. Mr. Kirkby noticed amazing numbers of kangaroos and emus along the Darling, which was flowing. They had evidently been forced to leave their fastnesses out-back in search of water.

In the country around Cobar, the collapse of the mining industry had' made itself felt. ■ One-time thriving townships ■like Slouera, where the biff C.S.A. copper mine was situated, and Illewong, where the Bee Mountain mine, was in operation, were now abandoned, with only one'family left in each case. Anyone might get a shop there or a house merely on payment of the transfer fees,, and blocks 'of land were available in Cobar on the same liberal terms. The owners of the property in these deserted villages are keen to give it away to escape the liability for rates.

[A cable message from Sydney published' yesterday stated that light rain had fallen in the Western District, andi soaking rains in South Australia.]