THE BACKBONE OF THE CENTRAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2842, 2 September 1908, Page 23

THE BACKBONE OF THE CENTRAL.

ROUND ABOUT BLACKSTONE HILLS. LAURBR, Thursday. Ranfurly, Rough Ridge, St. Bathane, and Cambrians' all foave the same tale to tel\ Snow that lies thick and frozen, and will not thaw; sheep that are Hidden in snowdrift*, slowiy perishing; stock that wandejs about on the frozen earth, crying 1 for food and slowly growing thinner — dying before their owners' eyes for -want of sustenanca and of cold; men tihat work from dayligha till long after dark, seeking out buried sheep and. conveying them to other places, only to watch them slowly starve. It was a pitiful tale, but monotonous in iim unvarying sameness. The fact has forced! itself upon me that people out of Central Otago really do not realise what the farmers up here are suffering. All the country) around is under, »now, most* of it 2ft deep*; The only clear road is the railway line;? practically all the district roads axe heavy,, with snow-slush,, water, and mud, and travelling ,ove* them provides few .joys. The snow has lain now for just on eightf weeks, and may lie for some weeks longer.. Meanwhile, cattle and sheep are starving^ The districts I have referred to ar«a roughly, 2000 ft above sea level, and at thisaltitude the cold of winter i« intense. Ani-' nials, to bear it, must be well fed; amf when,- as is the case now, stock are* inade< quately provided for, and often not pro* vided for at ajl, the low temperature proves deadly. The smaller farmers and stockowners are- finding their resources taxed ta the utmost to Keep the remnants of them flocks and 'herds alive. Most of them had a few stacks of hay and straw and fields oS turnips, but now, after eight weeks, the former are about exhausted, and the turnips ar« still deep under enow. Most farmers near the railway line are getting fbdde* from Dunedin, but this, even with the remission of railage granted by the Government, is very expensive; while those farmers at some distance from the line — and 5