THE TRUTH ABOUT QUEENSLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13839, 27 August 1908, Page 8

THE TRUTH ABOUT QUEENSLAND.

Sir, Mr. R. Weaver, of Toowoomba, has now written twice to the HERALD under the heading of " The Truth About Queensland." In his last Jotter he was kind enough to terra what I had written of my experience on the/ Darling Downs as "fiction." Perhaps it will explain why Mr. Weaver is so anxious to discredit anything which is written about the drawbacks to settlers in Queensland if it is known that lie is a land agent, and travelled through New Zealand last autumn for the purpose of selling land to or inducing New Zealanders to take up land in Queensland. Mr. Weaver has quoted statistics to show how long the drought lasted, but the fact that a few inches of rain fell here and there over a large area like the Darling Downs does not for one moment mean that the drought had broken, and it would be absolutely incorrect to infer that there was anything like a general rainfall, except in the last two months of the year 1902. That tho rainfall is most irregular is clearly shown in the Australian Official Year Rook. The average rainfall on the Downs is shown on the chart as between 30in and 40in. At Pittsworth a fall of UMin was recorded in 24 hours, and at Crohamhurst (BlackaJl Range) a fall of 10.78 in, and two days later 35.7] in fell in the 24 hours, In Brisbane the 10 years' average from 1886 to 1896 was 53in : from 1896 to 1906 it was 39.16 in, It would have been more to the point if Mr. Weaver had quoted statistics showing the effect of the drought on the sheep on the Downs. The Official Year Book gives the number of sheep in Queensland for the year 1895 as 19.856,959, and for the year 1902 as 7.213,985. That the Darling Downs suffered as badly as some other parts of Queensland is shown by the losses of sheep on the various stations. Felton station, which is well-water-ed, and one of tho best on the Downs, was carrying 43,000 sheep before tho drought, and was then greatly under-stocked. After the drought there was only 21,000 left to lie branded. As Mr. Weaver says, "Facts are stubborn things." I am not, a land agent, and it would bo of no interest to mo to misrepresent my experience of a drought on the Darling Downs. _ To use Mr. Weaver's own words, "I certainly do assert most emphatically " that I was there for six months without seeing any rain fall, and I was told by residents on various parts of the Downs that there had been practically no rainfall for the previous six months. This was borne out by the parched up appearance of the country, and the decreasing flocks. Mangcre. Gilbert Kirkbride.