HOUSES BURIED

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25054, 18 November 1944, Page 8

HOUSES BURIED

AUSTRALIAN DUST BOWL RICH PASTURES RUINED HAZE SHROUDING CITIES By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright (Special Australian Correspondent) (Eecd. 8.15 p.m.) SYDNEY, Nov. 17 Special reporters tell how the Kiverina and south-western districts of New South Wales have-become deserts. Rich pastures and farmlands, roads, fences, houses and telegraph poles have disappeared—buried under the ever-moving dust. The dust bowl area is moving steadily forward on a front covering 3.000,000 acres. All the lands now ruined were fine wheat and sheep farms three to five years ago. Haze from dust storms and smoke from bush fires shrouded Sydney again today. City and suburban fire brigades yesterday answered more than 100 calls, nearly all to bush and grass fires. The weather bureau lias issued a further urgent warning of the danger of fires. •The divisional meteorologist, Mr D. J. Mares, said today that monsoonal winds carrying rain were several weeks overdue. Occasionally these winds bypassed Australia and resulted in abnormally severe droughts. He believed this had happened this year. Canberra has been experiencing the worst dust storm in its history. Plane services have been cancelled In the House of Representatives the Country Party lender. Mr A. W. Fadden, asked the Government to call a conference of experts to deal with the dust bowl problem. Scientists and engineers, he said, should be asked to provide a long-range plan to combat erosion. , The acting-Prime Minister, Mr Forcle, Baid the Commonwealth Government had already considered the matter, while the New South Wales Government had set up a department to deal with the problem. KILLING OF^TOCK ENORMOUS LOSSES NEW ZEALAND CONTRAST "The effects of the drought in Aus-tralia-have to be seen to be believed," said Mr C. Matthews, representative of a large meat company operating in New Zealand, who has just returned from a business trip to Australia. Mr Matthews' normal visit lasts from September to December, but owing to the drought he has returned to New Zealand a month earlier. On the air trip across it was not until the New Zealand coast was being approached that the aircraft flew past the thick pall of amoke and dust that completely blotted out any sight of the sea, stated Mr Matthews. The green hills and fields of the Dominion afforded a marked contrast to the burned-up spectacle afforded when flying over the drought areas of Victoria and New South Wales. It had made one wonder if the New Zealand farmer fully appreciated just how much of a paradise was his own country. The drought, said Mr Matthews, was the culmination of throe dry seasons. The freezing works were handling an enormous volume of stock through Victorian and New South Wales farmers having to kill off animals which normally would not be dealt with until considerably later. The extent of this slaughter was limited only by the capacity and labour supply of the works and the ability of the railways to handle the stock. The difficulties of the railways were similar to those in New Zealand—a shortage of coal and trucks. The authorities, however, were doing their best to meet a desperate situation; It was obyious that losses would be enormous, Mr Matthews stated. Some districts would yield nothing at all, while from others a fair quantity of stock of fair quality was being obtained, hut, of course, with lighter weights. Although killings in Victoria were up at the present time, it was more than likely that they would ho considerably down for the export season. Mr Matthews spent over a month in South' Australia, where he found pastoral conditions favourable. There had heen a good rainfall and there was almost nn abundance of feed at the time he was there. Tn consequence a considerable quantity of Victorian stock had gone to South Australia. A lot of sheep were being grazed on the roads. In fact, it was said that some had heen on the roads for 12 months, feeding as they went. FINANCIAL REFORM MR H. J. KELLIHER'S VIEWS REPLY TO MR HOLLAND (Heed. ,11 p.m.) SYDNEY. Nov. 17 Mr H. J. Kelliher, who is at present visiting Sydney, today replied to the recent statement of the Leader of the Opposition in New Zealand, Mr Holland, concerning the Labour Party conference remit recommending the Government to acquire privately-owned shares in the Bank of New Zealand. "Mr Holland's statement associating me with an attack on the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance is utterly unfounded," said Mr Kelliher. "My concern has always been, and still is, with principles, not personalities. My views are well enough known on necessary financial reform. I adhere to them and regard the need for their implementation as urgent and pressing. The experience of war finance under abnormal conditions, when credit was expanded on a vast scale in producing goods not available for purchase and consumption, shows that the measures proposed are safe, practicable and beneficial as a permanent plan for normal finance. I nave advocated nationalisation of the Bank of New Zealand, but only on condition that it is utilised as an integral part of an adequate and clearly defined monetary policy. "I nave strongly advocated the more important step that the State should exercise its prerogative of creating and issuing interest-free credit or currency for public works, rehabilitation and national development, at the same time stabilising the price level of commodities by effective control of credit and currency, thus ensuring that our money represents a just and stable measure of value in terms of goods and services, constant. in purchasing power from year to year. This vitajly important requirement is noticeably absent in the resolution passed at the Labour conference."

Mr Holland) in his statement, said that the decision of the Labour Party conference was not unexpected. Threats were publicly made that political heads would roll off unless the long-established principle that Labour should nationalise the Bank of New Zealand and the banking system were adhered to, The Hon- F. G. Young, M.L.C., aided by Mr H. J. Kolliher, a one-time appointee of the Labour Government on the directorate of the Bank of New Zealand, had said the men at the top must po_, _ meaning presumably the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, and the Minister of Finance, Mr Nash, whose obeisance .to sane finance had not been popular > with sections of the Labour movement.