DIFFICULTIES OF WOOL GROWERS

Southland Times, Issue 23393, 28 December 1937, Page 6

DIFFICULTIES OF WOOL GROWERS

DRY AUSTRALIAN INTERIOR LONG PERIODS WITHOUT ANY RAIN (Special to The Tinies) AUCKLAND, December 27. The ravages ot drought in die northern interior of Australia and the iiuge losses sutiered by sneep station owners through years of little or no rain were vividly portrayed by Mr W. W. Wicker, a shearing contractor from Winton, 307 miles inland from I'ownsvilie, who arrived in Auckland by the Niagara accompanied by his wife. Mr Wicker is spending a holiday in the Dominion. Though so far north and in the interior, Winton lost some of its isolation as it was on the main air route of the Qantas air-mail service said Mr Wicker. The McMaster family were prominent station owners in. the district and one of them pioneered the Qantas air service and was now its director. “This year the rainfall has been very patchy,” said' Mr Wicker. “Early in February 16 inches of rain fell but now we are badly off for feed. We need rain badly now. In fact, we have not had a proper wet season since about 1924 or 1925 and it is only herbage that has made it possible to keep . tock alive. Pig weed, which is soft and full of water, has proved beneficial and it is said that even a human being can exist on it for a time. Flinders grass is another standby but the only grass of which we are assured of a supply, even after a long absence of rain, is Mitchell’s grass. It looks beautiful, like a wheat field, when seen on extensive plains.” DEEP ARTESIAN BORES Artesian and sub-artesian bores abounded in the north, said Mr Wicker and in some places their depth extended to 4000 or 5000 feet. At Winton there was a bore of a depth of 2400 feet and when water reached the surface it was within seven degrees of boiling point. A quarter of a million gallons of water was supplied from this bore in a day and it was gradually receding. “One of the peculiar features ot droughts in the north is that there is never anything to show that it will rain,” said Mr Wicker. “There is one place north of Winton where no rain was seen for seven years, so of the reaction of children who saw rain for the first time when they were about seven years old can be well understood. At Boulia rain falls very infrequently and it is only storm water from rains in the gulf that enable the place to carry on. “The extent to which long dry seasons have affected the stations is best demonstrated by the figures of one station,” said Mr Wicker. In 1925 the owner shore 50,000 sheep and in 1926, although he had spent £30,000 on fodder, he shore only 16,000 sheep. The next year there were only 13,000 sheep left to shear. Sheep have to be fed on artificial fodder in many places but they do not then grow wool.” The plight of the settlers was hopeless, he added and they considered it an impossibility for them to recover in some places. The Government had had to come to their aid and many were receiving a “dole” of £3 a week just to live on properties, sometimes without any stock. The lot of the New Zealand farmer was an easy one compared with that of settlers in the rar north. One man with 29,000 sheep had to kill 4000 of them “off the shears to make room for more feed for others Then came a cold ram which killed oil more sheep until there were about only 10,000 left.