NEW SOUTH WALES DROUGHTS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1459, 26 January 1886, Page 3

NEW SOUTH WALES DROUGHTS.

The Sydney Morning Herald of December, 25th draws attention to a remarkable statement published^in the last water conservation report for New South Wales. “Starting with the number of sheep in the colony on the Ist January, 1881, and adding 12 per cent as the natural increase the total ” (says the Herald) “is compared with the actual number at the close of the year, and a deficiency of three millions is the result. The same process is applied to the three following years, and the deficiency for the whole period is estimated nearly at 24,000,000 sheep, which, reckoning 6s 8d a sheep as the value of wool and carcase, represent a «ciency of uea rly £8,000.000._ The res were compiled by the chief initor of stock from his official reports, and, therefore, supply as accurate an estimate as could be procured. What we have termed deficiency is described as ‘loss.’ The distinction is, perhaps, worth making, because it may be assumed that there was no uniform rate of natural increase throughout the period of drought, and that the deficiency was partly traceable to that cause, as well as to the deaths of fully grown sheep. In other words, the 24,000,000 represent the death ef a certain number of sheep which the colony once had, and also the lack of a number more which under favorable conditions we might have had, but which we really never had. But the result, whether it be called loss or deficiency, is very serious; and the commission has done well to bring the subject forward in illustration of the need for water conservation works of an extensive scale. The execution of such works would involve a heavy expenditure, but figures litre these go to show that so far as their execution would tend to saving of the stock there is no trifling interest at stake. Nor should the question of preventing animal suffering be overlooked. It is sickening to think of those millions of sheep, bred for profit, and perishing by slow degrees of hunger and thirst,”