FARMERS’ DIRE PLIGHT

Taranaki Daily News, 21 September 1931, Page 11

FARMERS’ DIRE PLIGHT

RUINED BY FLOODS. LIFE’S SAVINGS VANISH After seeing their livelihood swept away in a few minutes and the work of years destroyed, dairy farmers, whose holdings on reclaimed swamps round Mannuni, South Australia, were flooded recently, were stunned by the catastrophe. Fruit-growing areas along the Upper Murray in South Australia escaped serious damage from the floods, but the dairy farmers lower down have suffered thousands of pounds’ worth of damage. ■Six hundred head of slock on Ponde Swamp, which was the first to be submerged, were wandering on the roads. One settler was seen driving his herd to an unknown destination. He was camped along the road milking cows several hours later. Another settler, Mr. G. C. Fletcher, after 11 years’ toil, has lost about £l’soo. Mr. A. C. Hayward, lessee of the Baseby Swamp, South Mannum, has lost over £3OOO in property. A bank collapsed at the River Glen settlement, forcing 12 families to leave their homes, with more than 600 head of stock.