DROUGHT IN AUSTRALIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23517, 4 June 1938, Page 28

DROUGHT IN AUSTRALIA

RAINS BRING RELIEF SUBSTANTIAL AREAS BENEFIT FINANCIAL DISASTER AVERTED (From Oub Own Correspondent) SYDNEY. May 27. The worst drought in New South Wales since 1002 was broken when steady rains, originating in , a tropical disturbance, swept over the Queensland border this week and worked south over the parched areas of the State. The steady hiss of rain on the thirsty soil brought joy to the hearts of tens of thousands of pastoralists and farmers who were on, the brink of financial disaster. The drought area had extended over a large portion of four States. It included practically the whole of New South Wales west of the Great Dividing Range (at least three-quarter* ot the State); south-western and central western Queensland, the Mallee and north-western areas of Victoria; and the northern portion of South Australia. This drought area, nearly » million square miles, included practically all the sheep-raising and wheatgrowing regions of Australia except those of Western Australia, which State has had a normal season. The week’s rain, still continuing at the time of writing, has broken the drought in the affected parts of Queensland and northwestern New South Wales, and gives excellent promise of a proper breaking of the drought in the othgr parched areas. In many parts the rain was the best for periods ranging from 12 to 18 months. The rain has meant the saving of Wheat crops and the succour of starving sheep. Most thankful were the graziers who had hand-fed, sheep for months, only to see thousands of stock die around then). They reached that point where it had become an economic question whether they should continue hand-feeding or let the sheep die. It costs a penny a day to handfeed sheep, so that a small holder with 2000 sheep was paying out £6O a week for fodder. He had done this for months, and many in his position were forced to mojrtgage their properties to fight the drought. Equally hard hit were the big pastoralists. The famous Bundemar stud, 46,000 acres of the best western New South Wales country, understocked at 2J acres to every sheep, had been hand-feeding for 15 months at a cost of £IOOO a week. i But even the rain does not mean the end of the graziers’ troubles. Thousands more sheep must die, some because they are so weak that they get bogged in the paddocks and waterholes, or are too weak to carry their waterlogged heavy fleeces; others through sickness arising from eating young grass. Many sheep were shorn early, and If a cold snap follows the rains they will succumb overnight. Already 4,000,000 sheep have died in New South Wales, and station owners and agents agree that this year’s wool clip will be nearly 40 per cent, less than that of last year. Moreover, the lambing was a failure. The ewes were too weak and the crows got the lambs. Mortality was greatest in the far-west, where in places not « drop of rain fell for six months. The Government was also thankful for the breaking of the drought The State railways made large concessions in the cost of transporting fodder to stricken areas, and had the drought continued much longer, the Government may have been forced to proffer other forms of financial relief. Some idea of the extent of hand-feed-ing is realised by the fact that it cost £32.000 a day for fodder in the west. At Dubbo, a central western town, 4000 tons of fodder passed through daily. The rains came in time to save the majority of wheat farmers from s ruinous year. Crops already planted will be given a good start, and provided additional rain falls before the cold weather sets in and stagnates growth, the yield for the season i*. unlikely to be below normal.