THE THROES OF DROUGHT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 13907, 7 November 1919, Page 6

THE THROES OF DROUGHT.

At least three-quarters of New South Wales is drought-stricken, and the remainder, with the exception of a _ few patches, is only in fair condition. • That is the well-weighed opinion of men whose business it is to know the country tlioroiKililv. says the. "Sydney Morning HeraldV' >l 'i'he only districts free from drought are the Upper Murray, the Upper Murrumbidgee. the Monaco, and the near North Coast. The Riverina was fair im'til latelv. but is drv now, and numbers of owners there are looking for agistment. Most of tin: vest of the State is bad, and much of it is as had as it is fjossible to be. Paddocks in the north, the north-west, and much of the west are in most cases as bare as the roads.

Every dav letters are. coming into the GrazierV Association offices, and to the stock and wool firms, telling the same tale. "It is the worst drought on .New England for 40 years." correspondents say? Men out towards the Queensland border report that in all their experience they have never known it worse. In some wavs it exceeds in severity the 1902 drought, as there is even less agistment country, and less fodder than there was then.

There was a temporary break last May, but unfortunately the rain was not backed up by further falls, and most of the paslorarcouiitry was soon as bad as ever. In the west, prior to the May showers, it was nothing unusual for from £IO,OOO to £15,000 to be spent on fodder for 30,000 to 50.000 sheep. As much as 10s per head was paid for agistment for four months, including the railage costs."When the May break "failed, hand-feeding was acaiu resented to in numy places, and in other cases from £SO to £IOO jier 1000 sheep per month was paid for agistment, plus the droviim- and railage costs. From the wav the season' is shaping, owners fear that'it'will cost from 15s to 20s per head, in addition to what was spent before May, to keep the sheep alive. The larger stations have poured money out like water on the purchase of fodder to save the stock. But still many of the stock have died, or are dving. and the fodder has given out. One man spent £IO,OOO on 20.000 sheep, and now lie cannot get further supplies of fodder. He feels to-day that he would have been much better off had he let the sheep die before he started to feed. One of the best known stations on the famous Liverpool Plains, not far from Xarrobri, shore over the 100,000 sheep lastyear. To-dav. after the station has spent £40,000 on "hand-feeding, half of these sheep are dead, and tlie remainder are being fed on scrub, and are so weak that thev cannot be removed to the shearing she'd. Shearing has been put off till it rains; and if this does not happen within' a couple of mouths the probability is that thev will all succumb.

The only fodder obtainable in New .South Wales to-day in large quantity is wheat, and it is being widely used. But it cannot be fed to stock by itself; there must 'be hay or scrub to go with it. Any other fodder is unprocurable in large quantities. Nobody can guarantee to supply it. One wav in which the State Government might assist in this time of stress is to arrange for large shipments of fodder from "South Australia, and possibly from New Zealand. Such fodder'would effect a hi"' national saving, for the sheep are among our greatest, material assets. It is extremely difficult to ascertain just what the losses have been to date, as owners prefer not to talk about their ti'oi'.bles but go on working and hoping that a better day may dawn soon. But it is not what the losses have been ; it is what they must be if the vain does not come that is causing the deepest, anxiety. The consensus of opinion among* men in touch with the industry right through the State is that the losses already have been very heavy. One man speaking for a string of stations in the west and south-west, "says that the deaths of sheep up to May last amounted to 30 per cent., beside practically all the lambs. He speaks with wide knowledge, and estimates that these losses may be taken as typical of a large part of the State. Patches and odd stations have fared better, of course, hut they are the rare exceptions.

One authority believes that the losses to date amount to 20 per cent, of the total stock in the State, and if beneficial rain does not fall before midsummer they will amount to 40 per cent. "If the rain does not come lie-fore December," he says, "jve will have no more sheep in the State at the end of 1919 than we had at the end of 1902. when thev reached the low water mark of 24.000.000/'

A 20 per cent., loss means 7.000,000 sheep, worth at least £10,000.000. In addition to this is the loss in the lambs, whirh probably represents over £5,000,000 already.

When comparing the present drought with that of 1902. it should be remembered that the losses today represent much more money because sh.eep and entile are three or four times more valuable than they were tlien. The man who loses. 5000 sheep to-day loses, say, £7500, worth of stock, whereas the loss of that number in 1902 represented about £2OOO. Instead of having 8.000,000 lambs this year, as would have been the case had the season been normal, we will be lucky if the drought is prolonged into the summer to get 2,000,000. Our "natural increase'/ has largely failed. There were good lamhiugs in \hi> riiverina. but the (locks there are comparatively small as compared with those of the north-west and west.

The probability is that, next year there will lie mi surplus sheep fur sale. Instead of saving it couple of millions for overseas (here"will be practically no export. .The sheep will have to bo kept iu the country boon use of the shortage. The wool clip lor the State hist season was 'IOO.OOO bales, worth about £20,000,000. Well-informed men say that a reduction of 20 per cent this season is likelv in any circumstances- a drop of £1.000.000. And if the rain does not come before mid Hummer it may mean a loss tif 50 per cent.

The Hailway Commissioners h'ive grappled with the'necessity for moving sliuv mg stock mid fowl by suspending the wool t radio, otherwise the position would have grown increasingly worse. Home hush is the great refuge for the drought driven Mlockowuer (o-day. Hut even its capacity in limited, or, rather, the flail way Oommitmionor's ability to bring the Mock in is. Agents estimate that with in hj, few weeks from 10,(XX) to U..000 trucks will lie wanted for a milium to u million and tt-hitlf tiheep. But. if is rvi dent, that everv effort will bo made to handle the who'le problem rllicimtly.