GOLDEN RAIN

Hokitika Guardian, 7 December 1940, Page 2

GOLDEN RAIN

IN NEW SOUTH WALES

RELIEF FROM. THE DROUGHT

SYDNEY, Dec. 1. A deluge of rain, occurred in die catchment area, yesterday between S a.m. and 8 p.m. and it was still raining steadily late last night. A full staff at Warragamba Weir began pumping the full capacity of 40,000,000 gallons daily. Copious rains, thought to he thb forerunner of the breaking of the drought have also fallen over the whole of the eastern half of New South Wales. To the dairying industry and to lucerne, maize, vegetable and millet crops, the value of the rain is incalculable. Prospects of further falls are bright, and the rain has a tendency to spread further inland, according to thy State Meteorologist, Mr Mares. In the wide area that lias benefited the average fall lias been from one to three inches, hut in parts of the catchment areas from five to eight inches have fallen. Except in the Far West, and Riverina, the golden rain has deluged practically the whole State.

Plight of Dairymen.

Regret that the falls were not spread over areas further inland was voiced by officers of the Department of. Agriculture. Harvesting in the. wheat areas is too far advanced for r.ain to assist them now, but crops generally have benefited, and the districts stood in urgent need of the soaking lains. Dairymen are rejoicing at the rain, but to many of them it may have come too late. Reduced to the bread line as a result of heavy losses due to the drought, hundreds of dairy farmers •throughout the State are doing casual work on the roads and otherwise ekeing out an existence as best they can. A Commonwealth-wide shortage of fodder for hand-feeding and difficulty in obtaining railway trucks to transport what little feed is available are two vital factors that are making the problem more acute.

A Dearth of Fodder

“The situation in the dairy industry is disastrous,” the president of trie Primary Producers’ Union Mr M. I*. Dunlop, said yeserday. “Fodder is the crying need of the moment, but it is oncoming increasingly difficult to obtain supplies,” lie added, “if the Wheat Board could be persuaded to make available some of the surplus wheat now filling the silos at a price considerably below the Sydney f.a.q. price of 4s 2)d a‘bushel, then considerable relief jf the fodder problem would result. “This wheat, it is said, cannot he made available by the Wheat Board under its charter, but the Federal Government could take the necessary steps to, see that wheat for wheatmeal feed was supplied at a reasonable price. Something will have to he done, because the diary industry is in a very serious plight, which is becoming such a problem that financial crisis is arising for the thousands of farmers concerned.”