THE MACKENZIE COUNTRY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13656, 27 July 1908, Page 2

THE MACKENZIE COUNTRY.

SUME PERSOXAL CiJS.oRVATIOXS

Mr J. S. Rutherford, who was in low.u on Saturday, gave a "!'<-i-a;d 'n porter a few notion u,». .-..ii.lili.rn -f H«« -Mackenzie Cuti.it] v, whence' 1..: r.-lv.iH-d i" Upaw.i t.n Wednesday last, after a v;~a to Mistake station.

Mr Rutlrrford thinks uie present i-now is ii.iite rs bad as that of 'bo on the east side uf the country—th'it iii on both e:des of the Tckajm liver and lake, but the fnvli> were more severe i.itef the snowjail in that year. When he came cut there was no black count iv on that side except steep rocks, the tops of windswept spurs (hat have no feed on them to speak of, and about the head of the lake, some patches of scrub show black. Mr Rutlierford fetched his hors-.s down from M.stake, as nothing could be done there. From what Mr Rutherford said, that appeals to be the disheartening state of the ea.se generally on that s ; de of tne countrv—"Nothing can be done." If sheep arc found in camp, there is no feed auvwhera to shift them to. Sawdon, Tekapo, Richmond, Lilybank, Mistake, Gk-nmore, Balmoral, Wolds, all these runs are snowed, under completely—to the top of the seven-wire fauces on Sawdon flat. Balmoral has men engaged at 15s and 20s a day, but fiom all accounts all th-.-v can do yet is to wait for an opportunity- to do •something when there is black country to shift sheep to. The question is whether sheep can survive so_ long a wait. The snow begun on the 7th, and since then the sheep have had nothing to eat but the wool off each others backii, and that will kill them. The few hundreds that have been got to the bare windswept ridges are- not much better oft" for feed and they aie not sheltered from the winds as the sheep are that are snowed up. The Tukaki bide- <scaped wonderfully, Braemar is almost bare—only had six inch'.s of snow —and Simon's Pais has a lot of bare country, and has been able to get- a g> od many sheep off the range. There was three feet at the Hermitage, but it tapered. off, down the Tasmaii—two feet at Birch Hill, grey tucsoeks not buried at ■ Glentanncr, and only nine inclKS at Rhoboro Downs homestead. On the south side the fall was heavy again! Haldon, had two feet six inches, and there. was still two feet last Tuesday, and nothing could,, be done, except for a few sheep in the neighbourhood of stome stacks of oat sheaves. At Gray's Hills the rabbit fence is buried to- the top, and rabbits can run over it. . They do not run far however. Har<.s seem to be able to travel on the snow, but rabbits soon die. They are to be seen lying dead on top of the snow. Very likely they would die in their burrows too, except th.ise that are settled in: a hit of scrub. Two of the County Council- roadmen who had boen working oil the Grampians road came out with . their 'draught horses on Tuesday. They reported that some rcbbiters- who had been camped in •tents in the Hakateramea - side of the Dalgety range had jest come in to the Grampian station,' badly frost.bitten.' The Council's men did well, Mr Rutherford thought, to get out. with their houses;, they would not have been able'.to do it, but for being able to make use of a track made in the snow by the Whalesback shepherils helping them over a lot of ground. They had to make their own track from the Whaleback hut to the Pass, after' camping in the hut for a night. "■ Coming over to this side of the range Rolksby was veiy bad and still is, with 27 inclhs of snow hard- frozen on the top. Some of the sheep were got away. Mr Guthrie took his sheep away to Fairlie, but he has enough country clear now to take them back again. Ashwick looks in bad condition, and f?her\vond Downs had not been heard from but Clayton had 12,000 on turnips, . and these are nowdown on the roads. Sheep from all round fill the roads down to Aibury. There must, Mr Rutherford is convinced, bo a very great loss of sheep. Horsfs are being brought from stations that have not, a good stock of feed, and others are bsing taken up to stations that have fe<-d, to make tracks for sheep, when there is country bare to put them on. Twelve men. and 21 horses went up to Tekapo on Tuesday, bound for various stations; but there was not much that could be done, as there had been very little thaw. Even these horses were in trouble as horse feed was scarce at the Tekapo stables. The woiKt part of the road for the traveller .is the IV s itself. The county snow-plough was inn to the foot of the Pass, but could not h> uiied up the long cutting which was drifted too deep. Mr Rutherford -thought it a pity that the plough was ".not dragged idle over the Pass for it could then' have been u>ed. to make a track to Tekapo and further. The short gap unplotighed would ° not then have" mattered so much.. Even now the travelling is not so difficult as one, might imagine. Mr Rutherford rode from Mistake- station to "Burke's Pass, 27 niiki; through, some of the worst of the lower country in one day (1.-st Tuesday). The snow has of course, great'y. hampered the mail service, but ' niw. that tracks have, been trodden in. the snow, the mailman vHll probably be' able to get through with his : accustomed regularity. The people on the Pukaki side, .having little snow, were showing some impatience at.the long interva's between mails.-