CANTERBURY PLAINS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22504, 23 February 1935, Page 19

CANTERBURY PLAINS

DROUGHT NOT YET BROKEN A THREAT OF RAIN ' (Special to Dailt Times.) ■ * CHRISTCHURCH, February 22. ’ The drought has not yet broken in Canterbury . The plain ia now being swept by a cold south-west storm, diving heavy clouds, but there has yet been little precipitation of rain, and. while in normal seasons any weatherwise person would ;- r have predicted a wet night, the expen ence of recent weeks and months has sadly confounded the weather prophets. For the last 10 days or so there have been occasional showers, varying greatly in intensity in different areas. The best rains Christchurch had had for about three months fell last Wednesday, but it was by no means heavy enough to have important or lasting results. Xnat rain might be termed accidental. It came from the north-west. . Usually the ram bearing north-west winds from the sea which give the West Coast such an abundant raiMall are completely robbed of their ■■ moisture by- the range of the Southern / Alps. Occasionally the ram crosses the watershed and there are floods .m the larger rivers. Less frequently the'rains reach the lower slopes on the eastern side of the range, but very "seldom does ram reach the plains and still .less often does it reach Christchurch. The storm which caused floods at Hokitika was evidently ot such dimensions that some of the rain clouds escaped over the mountains. Xhe rain was very welcome in Christchurch, but while it freshened those pastures which were not completely burned umit was by no means sufficient to start growth again in those much larger areas where the grass has been burned dry in the months of drought. The other" showers , which have fallen have , been the heaviest in the foothills region where some farmers have been optimistic enough to proclaim that the drought iia.s v broken. They need more rain, but the worst of their need is, perhaps, pver. But the very driest part of the plain is still dry. A wide strip down the centre has missed the foothills rain and missed the coastal showers, and its plight is little if' anv better than it was a fortnight ago. This area may get more benefit, from the present south-west storm than it has had from the sporadic showers of the last two weeks. The coastal belt is In no such happy position as the foothills region. The need for rain is still very urgent. The, showers have done good, but the greatest good may prove to he that they have softened the cement-like hardness of the arid soil sufficiently to prepare. it for a heavier rain. Unfortunately, the heavier, rain has not come yet. To-day’s rain was most bountiful where it was least needed. Sheffield and Methven had an inch of rain and Oxford rather less. In the north there was no rain at all, and in and around Christchurch the total register of rain could not have exceeded 15 j&ints. Ashburton, which needed rain only a little less urgently than Christchurch, had a useful fall of 85 points.