The Drought in Australia.

Hastings Standard, Issue 324, 17 May 1897, Page 4

The Drought in Australia.

STOCK DYING IN THOUSANDS Late Australian papers to hand state that portions of Victoria and New South Wales are faced with serious peril from drought. A succession of three dry seasons has exhausted the natural supplies of grass and water. In the districts north of the Dividing Range and in the western parts of Riverina the situation may fairly be described as ominous. Unless rain comes soon to avert disaster both farmer and grazier will be placed in a very difficult position. For two years running the harvest in Victoria has suffered from climatic causes, and a repetition of previous history is beginning to be feared. The Victorian districts principally affected are those which lie in the western portion of the colony, though in the north and even in the Goulburn Valley the outlook is exceedingly gloomy. From Echuca down the river to Swan Hill, and thence across the Loddon Avoea and Wimmera to the South Australian border, and back by way of Nhill, Dimboola, Horsham, Hamilton and Ararat the pressure is beginning to be severely felt. In several localities the farmers have been forced into carting water for their stock. The scarcity of feed is also daily becoming more manifest. Horses, cattle, and sheep are dying in increasing numbers. Where sheep are fit to travel squatters are sending them to the southern districts which have escaped the devastation of drought. In Riverina, and especially in the extreme west, the state of affairs is even worse than in Victoria. Around Wilcannia the country has the appearance of a desert, and all along the Darling there is hardly a vestige of feed to be seen. Down towards Broken Hill the same experience is recorded. Hay and Deniliquin are suffering severely, and sheep are dying in thousands. The freezing and boiling down establishments are busy, because stock must be got rid of at any price. Even around Wagga and Albury, districts usually free from apprehen-

sion, pastoralists are becoming afraid that the winter will prove a disastrous one. Practically the whole of the southern portion of New South Wales is subject to the drought, for little or no rain has fallen during the greater part of last year and the whole of this. The light rains which have fallen in the past two years have been so rapidly absorbed by the parched soil that no lasting benefit has been conferred. Unless lain comes immediately and is followed by genial weather there must be a certainty of heavy loss among stock, while the lambing will be rendered a failure.