"LABOUR GONE MAD."

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

"LABOUR GONE MAD."

The Pastoralists' Review is a paper of positive quality. Its special articles always have intellectual weight and an. authoritative snap. The article in the current number, under the heading of "Labour Gone Mad," will not meet with the approval of everybody ; but, from its standpoint, it presents the facts of the recent abortive tramways strike in Svdnej with admirable sense and force, and, in that regard, it hae som bearing on the troubles that are; clamouring at otnr doors in New Zealand. Equally admirable, in a quite different fieldj is the article on " Australian Emigration." These xte subjects of interest to the general reader. There are manyother articles of special interest to the pastoralist and agriculturist. Prominent among these ie Mr Hollings's excellent contribution on "Preparing Wool for Market."- It is a subject, on Wihich, if authoritative opinion • oouufte for anything, eomo -of our -wool-growers ttiay still read up to .their own advantage. Generally, the Pastoral iats* % Review of this month is tip to the excellent standard to which ita readers are accustomed. The illustrations are varied and valuable. There is a. vast amount of information and coire&p#ndenee on matters of vital import to pastoraliets, and Jhere are the usual interesting yarns and discourses in the literacy section.' It w a paper to read &nd. kees.

thus the greatest losers are situated — simply cannot get feed by rail in required quantities, because the state of the roads precludes all possibilities of carting it to where it is required. Then, again, the men who own the largest numbers of stock have in most cases bsen grazing them on runs that -stretch away over the ranges (the Hawkdun and Dunstan Mountains and the Blaoketone Hills), with the result that the animals have been 6nowed up in well-nigh inaccessible places. The owners of stock) have contrived during the past few weeks to visit all parts of their runs, and where possible have helped their sheep and cattle out of the drifte on to the rew bare faces that are visible on the northern slopes, but beyond that they could do no more. It is impossible to convey fodder out to places to which men struggle with great difficulty, and stock-owners tell me it i» almost ■as difficult to get the stock to more level country, where they may be fed. Cattle- suffer more tihan do the sheep. The latter, provided they keep dry, retain tome warmth beneath their heavy fleeces, and. being lighter, have a ohance of saving their lives by fossicking about on the frozen surface of th« snow and suosistittg on fcussooks, etc. Cattle however, feel the cold more, and cannot move about to any extent, for the enwt will not bear thorn. The~ occasional showers of hail «nd snow that liave fallen lately must have increased the death rate to a largo extent, for. as has been stated, a sheep wet to the skin lives but a very short time in t!he keen atmosphere of the uplands, while the cattle arer aerioualy inconvenienced, by the light falls of snowthat are constantly ocourring. Were a eudden thaw to take place now and the balk of sivow to Niiaappear, the loss of ehoep over tm« wliole district would not be much lees than 50 per cent. ; if the thaw is longer in coming, the loos will be .proportionately greater. How unhappy, therefore, is the lot of the pastoralist in this portion of Central Otago will be leadily aeen.

"With tiie object of ascertaining details. I went flnrt to St. Ba-fchans through a oounfcry ■burled in qncw. Alongside the roads were BO»n*s pitiabU m the extreme. Never falore, I hope, ■wore tlhere e\.\rh numbers of thin, toieeinuble-looking th^aep and cattle. fxhey gtvod about wit(h arched back*, for thejnofft part, mutely periahing; but here and there I saw .4he«p fpably scratching in the mow, Qridently seeking tussocks or titrptpj. And thees were the etock that baa been peeoued, brought down off tho raogea, and which were being fed! St. Bathans, of coursa. Is a mining- towiv phip. but the*© ar« big runs all about, and I gained a lofc of information. There was Rotbing new. though} it wu, CTinimarieed, the Mane old t*J» of buried sheep and ■Wving cbaas antf dead sheep. The- ranges About St. Bathans, thov told me, had been under snow tor orer four week*, tnjfc during th« pe*t few week* it had been, disappearing off the hilUide* that faced the nortih, thus ftUowkig tae «h«ep, Tfhere possible, fco oome out on to open country. The ■took, where accessible, were being fed, but were dying in large numbers. I \rag informed by Mr Pyle, a St. Bathans storekeeper, that out on tho ranees between. Mount Ida and the Omarama Gorge there w«re from 600 to 700 head: of cAttLe. ami

he believed that these must be decimated. He told me, too, that these animals, under the influence of intense hunger, ate the long hair on each other's tails, and thus practically committed suicide. He said that sheep in chewing each other's wool, developed the same, trait, and even ' those animals that were being fed in the snow would not give up the habit, and, of course, ultimately died. Mining at St. Bathans is practically at a standstill, and everyone has been idle since the snow fell. The workmen, of course, are not earning regular wages, and distress is beginning to appear. The stoppage, "obviously, is due to the races being blocked with snow and the water frozen hard. I The storm came on so suddenly that the miners had no chance of turning the water out of the races, with the result that they must wait now until a general thaw sets in before work can be resumed. Many repairs are also necessary. The water was blocked back in the channels, and commenced to run over the sides, and in this way big breaks were made. In one of the raoes there are seven breaks in eight miles, and in another in the same distance there are 10 breaks. 1 called on Mr W. M'Connochie, who is largely interested in mining and sheepfarming, and had an interesting chat with him. Mr M'Connochie took a very philosophical view of tho situation. He Ga-id that while he was the owner of a sheep run of 7770 acre 3, which was over 2000ffc above sea level, and on which were 2000 sheep, he was also largely interested in tho mining operations in St. Bathan3. The industry ha« been nearly crippled during the past year owing ie scarcity of water. " But," eaid Mr M'Connochie, happily, "there are hundreds of thousands of tons of water stored up in, those hills — enough to keep us sluicing for a couple of years. The sheep may die: this storm will brine enough water down to allow ua to pay for those lossea several times over." Then, still smiling, lie led me to a great lecteer, and showed me a list of .the dividends he had received from the Tinkers' claim during the past oiglit year 3. I left the office awestruck. Later, he told me that diis men had got 1000 sheep out of the snow, of which 60 had since died, simply because they got wet. The rescued sheep were •being fed on oaten sheaves, but the supply was running dangerously short: the other thousand were taking their chances out on the ranges. He did not think that their chances of escape were too bright. On horsebaclc 1 ventured to Cambrian, and there one of the first men I met w*e the manager of Mr MConnochie's run. " I expect to lose about 25 per cent, of the ehoep," he said, tersely, and went on to inform me of how he had been feeding 1000 Bheep> and of how fodder was running very short." Mr John Beatty, of Cambrian, a wellknown man in Central Otago, said he had a run of 9000 acres on the Dunstan Range, oa wihioh he had had some 5000 sheep. Anticipating bad weather, he had brought the bulk of these- into lower country, leaving about 1200 head out on the hills. Ho ■waa then feeding some 4000 sheep and 200 cattle, but feed was running; very short, and he had turned out as many of the animala as he could to find a living for

themselves among the tussocks on the bare ground. The- sheep and cattle were in poor condition, and a number were dying. He did not expect to lose a big percentage of the 1200 out on the rum, owing" to the fact that there was a good deal of black oounry showing, but, taking everything 1 into consideration, his loss in stock would be exceptionally heavy.Mr Hinkson Mcc, another Cambrian run- , holder, has from five to six thousand sheep on some 20,000 acres. He recently took over a new run, but, fortunately, was not fully stocked. He had been working almost night and day, I was told, and by prodigious effort had succeeded in getting out some 4000 sheep, which he was feeding. He was troubled, however, by the general shortage of feed, and I understand that he expects to lose quite as heavily as his neigh- '; bours.