NEW HEAT WAVE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 135, 5 December 1944, Page 5

NEW HEAT WAVE

EXPECTED IN (AUSTRALIA

■ , SYDNEY, December 4. More dust storms with a renewed heat wave are expected in New South Wales within the next few days. A Sydney "Daily Telegraph" investigator says the present drought marks the worst of five successively bad seasons which have cost graziers in western and central portions of the State more than £10,000,000. This cost is assessed on land depreciation, sheep losses, the potential value of lost ewes, sheep income, and farm equipment. Hundreds of thousands of sheep have died and more are still dying:

Pastoralists say that the restocking of properties when the drought breaks will be one of Australia's most urgent problems. The rams last week were insufficient to alleviate conditions. The major factors responsible for the bad condition of the country and the bad financial position of graziers are listed as lack of good rains, overstocking, failure to conserve emergency fodder, neglect of natural herbage, overcapitalisation of property, soil, and water erosion, and man-power difficulties.

"The deterioration of good grazing country has been going on for nearly 50 years in this State," said the New South Wales Minister of Conservation. Mr. Dunn. "We cannot allow this situation to develop further and at the moment the G6vernment is implementing plans to return these areas to their former prosperity. "Legislation to do this will be introduced early next year. We will probably have to control the stocking of lands and close up some areas at least temporarily to allow them to recover and compel pastoralists to co-operate with us." v