GRATEFUL SETTLERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20598, 24 June 1930, Page 10

GRATEFUL SETTLERS.

GOOD DEED REWARDED. LOADS OF FIREWOOD. [FROM our. OWN CORRESPONDENT.] MELBOURNE, June 12. The people of Melbourne are. experiencing the reward of a good deed. In January last they provided a seaside holiday for hundreds of tho women and children from tho parched Malice district, in tho north-west of Victoria, and now the Malice settlers arc showing their gratitude by sending gifts of truckloads bf firowood for tho unemployed of Melbourne.

The seaside holiday was a boon to the Malloo women, whoso health was becoming affected after fivo years' struggle against hardships on tho settlements in tho far north-western corner of tho State. Physically, tho holiday did them considerable good; mentally, they got a new outlook. They went back to tho farms in a new spirit, ready to begin afresh tho struggle against adversity. Now tho rain has come, and tho whole of tho Malice has had tho best soaking it has had for more than five years. That rain has changed everything. It has built up a new faith, both among tho settlers themselves and among tho business men in the city, as to tho possibilities of the Mallee—a region that lias been droughtstricken so long. Fresh heart lias been put into tho wheatfanners and the wholo area is now a scene of intense activity. Men who have toiled on against adverse weather conditions for years now seo some chance of reward for their labours, and tho nightmnro of "prossure of creditors" has lost its terrors.