EFFECT OF DROUGHT

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 260, 24 January 1928, Page 9

EFFECT OF DROUGHT

POSITION STILL HOPEFUL GOOD MAY RESULT (From Our i Own Correspondent) HAMILTON, To-day. In an interview on the drought, Mr. Dynes Fulton, chairman of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Co., completely repudiated an alleged interview in the Press in which absurd statements were attributed to him. Speaking as a farmer of 40 years’ experience in South Auckland, he said he had never known a dry spell to set in so early and burn the pastures more quickly. The last four or five years had been phenomenal for production, and, with the increased use of artificial manures for top-dressing they had been able to stave off any short spell of dry weather. While a prolonged dry spell would have a disastrous effect in many ways it would, nevertheless, do a power of good to the land. Plentiful rain at the present moment would do a wonderful amount of good, but Mr. Fulton believes it too early to expect sufficient rain to much benefit the pastures. Soaking rain next month, when there is not so much sting in the sun, would give much better results.