AUSTRALIAN HARVEST

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 81, 6 April 1926, Page 10

AUSTRALIAN HARVEST

RAIN CHANGES OUTLOOK DROUGHT SPECTBE VANISHES. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, Ist April. This State, as one of the newspapers expressively put it, has literally had its troubles washed away by the very generous rains last week. In the city dried-up gardens have been refreshed, and there has at last been an escape from a long spell of hot and humid days; it is outback where the falls have been most deeply.appreciated, and have breathed a new life into the outlook. Throughout the great of the Riverina, for example, the spectre of drought has vanished like an unsubstantial mirage. The transformation everywhere has been complete, oven to the extent of floods in some directions, unfortunately. While' it cuts down his water bill and refreshes his garden the spectacle of continued rain is apt usually to make the city dweller a bit peevish, but the cheerfulness with which he has bein getting drenched, in pursuing his lawful occasions about the city, and his magnanimous regard for the man outback, have been noticeable on this occasion. Even if he has suffered some discomfort, especially as a result of the. cyclonic storm that followed the widespread rains,: he has rejoiced no less than the man outback at the laying of the grim spectre of drought. It has been golden- rain in every sense. The little army of countrymen who have invaded the'city for the Sydney Show, which, too, is reaping the benefit of the rains, see in the downpours a rain figuratively of sovereigns. To sec them scanning the weather maps at the General Post Office, and to watch city dwellers slopping happi'.y about in the wet, instead of pulling wry faces about the rain as they often do, is to understand the general sense of relief and gratitude which has been felt by the breaking of the long dry spell. Monetarily, the result of the rains has been to prevent any hardening of the market. Financial institutions only a few weeks ago, in anticipation of the calls which continued dry weather might cause to be made on them later in the season, were inclined to speak of a hardening money market. This is no longer the case. Money is as easy now as it was at the commencement of- the year for all sound investments and developmental needs.