THE DROUGHT IN AUSTRALIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVIII, Issue 12986, 29 November 1902, Page 6

THE DROUGHT IN AUSTRALIA.

Even Australians, prpucl and hopeful to the last, are beginning to admit the gravity of the calamity which has overtaken them. We have all read accounts of tne miles and miles of barren country, the. starvation of stock, the dearth of water, the ruination of settlers. We know that in New South Wales heroic battles have been fought with the terrible enemy, and, thalj farmers, settlers and stationholders have contested every inch of ground as they have fallen back literally upon the last ditch. The Government has given them what assistance it could think of, but when all" is said, and all due credit has been given to Sir John See and his colleagues, it must be confessed that they have lacked the imagination and the determination necessary in such a crisis. There seems to have been a disposition to depend too extensively on the Federal Go-

vernment, and even now the best measure Australian politicians can conceive is the remission of the Federal duties on foodstuffs and fodder. It may he over-harsh to say that the State Government did not realise the gravity of the position until' the distress was beginning to be felt keenly in the towns, but there is some ground for the assertion. So long as the settlers were - ’ selling their stock to save what they could ' from the general disaster, the towns ■rtero moderately, if not cheaply, fed. During - the winter, too, districts not affected the drought were able to help those that were affected. But we must /emember that this present drought, coming after 9 . succession of dry [seasons, has now lasted a summer, an autumn, a winter and s . spring, and there is little/ prospect of a real break. It is, as the “ Sydney Morning Herald” justly claims, a striking testimony to the/resources of the State that the stress of this long affliction has been so well borne. But there are limits to the endurance of Ml peoples. In certain country districts the limit has long since been reached. The towns are in better case*, but they, too, are suffering severely. Wheat reached 6s a bushel in Melbourne on Nov. 19, and the four-pound loaf was selling at 7d. This week we have wheat, quoted in Sydney at 6s 3d a bushel, and flour at £ll 10s to £l2 15s a ton. Mr Coghlan has made a comparison of the prices ruling for necessary commodities in. Sydney on Nov. 16, 1900, and Nov. 1902. A few items may, be quoted:— 1900. 1902. "Wlic-at, per bus. 2s 7d 6s 7d Flour, per ton- -6 £ll Maize, per bus. 3a 5s 6d Oats (N.Z.), per bus. 2S Id 8s 8d Chaff £3 6s £6 10s > , - Beef, per 1091 b 2is 6d 44s Tire New South Wales wheat harvest will probably not yield 3,500,000 bushels. The. requirements for food will be 8,000,000 bushels, and for seed 2,000,000 bushels. The estimated yields of the other Australian States are 12,500,000 bushels, but their requirements will be fully 20,000,000, so that the gross shortage at present estimates will be 14,000,000 bushels. Unemployed are thronging into Sydney and Melbourne. The New South Wales Government, in conference with Opposition' leaders and with representative business men, farmers and workers, has drafted a series of proposals, which will be submitted to Parliament for approval. They include a vigorous public works policy for the stricken districts, the distribution of seed wheat, the of advances to settlers, the remission of rents for Crown tenants, and water conservation schemes. The nominal rates will he continued lor cue carriage of fodder on. the railways,- and the Federal Government will he directly asked to suspend the duties on breadstnffs and fodder. Meanwhile, subscription-lists have been opened to raise funds for the im-. mediate relief of the most urgent cases of distress. Australia’s troubles would move# even a more distant and less sympathetic neighbour than New Zealand, but the rebuke administered to Madame Melba raises a doubt as to how we can assist. News comes this morning that steady rain has fallen over t the greater part of New South •, ■Wales, and we can only hope that relief, in its most acceptable form, is at last at hand.