MACKENZIE COUNTRY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13679, 22 August 1908, Page 7

MACKENZIE COUNTRY.

STILL UNDER ICE, Inquiries made yesterday of.a number of business people who have interests in the Mackenzie Country,: elicited little in t-lm way of good news.. -Mr M. -Whitejjfjnanager 6f the .N.Z. Loan Co., owriers"of. Balmoral station\and interested in others .as town. ageAJs of "the occupiers, .had not heard much' lately 'of 'the Mackenzie ..Country proper, ilr Sams', manager •jpf,.Balmoral, telephoned oh Wed-\ ntsd'ay' that- there/had been a thaw for some days,.;and a • nor-wester that morn--ing;- but there was still much, frozen, snow, practically all ice, over which'sheep'were moving about.;; Balmoral, Mr White, s'aid,_ had it. good, 'supply of chaff, and •this was being packed out and scattered' on. the snow for the sheep to pick tip, and there were black patches too. ' There was also '3f)o acres of turnips on Balmoral which had cleared of snow by a snow plough. iA letter of Monday from Mrs Hayter, oißoUesby (on this side of the front range) spoke of a. thawing rain, enow melting thatday, of cattle and horses having been gob to; clear ground oh the previous Saturday. The letter, was written isix weeks after the first' snow, and there w : as yet veiy •iirtle black ground,, and the task of getling at eheep was very arduous. It was marvellous that, after sir .weeks under snow the sheep when got out were able to'run. about. Mrs Hayter has lived many years at Rollesby, and she says- that the . July snowfall was the heaviest single fall that has ever occuired at Rollesby within her experience. Mr White hoped that there was some- • Ihing in the old Otago settler's experience that frosts broke up by the 20th, as the frosts at night undid the good ;of thaw'by day. The "water was absorbe-d; by the snow, and froze at night, until, what was left .now -was a sheet of ice, over which one could ride. Mr A. Grant, speaking of the condition of tho Wolds and Grampians, said -there was'nothing new or . encouraging, from ther&_. .-Thaw prevailed-on Monday and Tuesday, but on Wednesday more snow fell—-6*snches at- Gray's Hills, on top of

about 18 inches of ice. .-. It.was reported a mob of 6CO had .been -found on Clayton, all dead. And a converse of this,./a report from tho south • had it that 300 sheeip in 'oner'lot had been got out alive at Hakater,amea, from,beneath snow over /which men had walked the day before, the sbeep'being 'found by a dog scratching at'their icy . covering. ' Talking of the probale loss, Mr White iSaid it could only -be guessed at in the meantime. A rough estimate might- be' made -when the.«now cleared, and men were out skinning the dead. ; This, lie said, was a, job that had to be taken in hand smartly, for the dead', sheep -could not be skinned while frozen, and-' they could not be skinned for long after they thawed. Bub the real loss .could ; not be ascertained until the shearing tallies told their tale. Fortunately for some of the runholder.s, the heavy snowfall was patchy, there being only a light fall on lthoboi-o Downs, Glentanner and Braemar, and 'generally on the Pukaki-side, whilst it was heavy again down the Waitaki. The rescue of sheep had been a very expensive , work. Extra men were paid £1 ...a, day. There, were a good many horsra on Balmoral for tramping tracks for the. sheep, bub a good few more- were bought and gob through to the station,- and others. were hired, bub got no further than the Paes. Regarding the possibility of providing feed for sheep in such icy winters. Mr White was nob at all optimistic. While these winters appear to occur at intervals of five to eight- year.i, which would allow of an accumulation of;feed; tho difficulty of distributing the feed' or -the alternative of bringing the sheep to the feed was very great. Left,.to themselves the sheep prefer to camp on elevated spots, whereas feed must be grown on the low levels; the trouble was to get sheep down or to get feed up when heavy. shows covered, the country. SNOWS AND LEASE CONDITIONS. Tho. present) visitation, Mr'-White said, gave additional force to the claim of the tenants to a right of .renewal of their leases without competition. Lacking that, security, those whose leases would expire three yeais hence dared . nofc. purchase a sheep to stock'up their runs.again; and natural increase would not, do much iii tho time. The Government ought to be content with, a'rental based on valuation,' for the- sitting tenant at all events, and": the risk a present occupier ran of'being outbid by people who did not know the. country was illustrated by the resuls of the las# auction,of the. runs' in 1889; Mr White produced .a record and quoted some ! of these results, as fellows, the first money column representing the upset rental fixed by the Land Board, the second the-rent that was bid at the auction of the leases : £ ' £ '' Messrs Elworthy .. . '435 710 ' Mr Rutherford . . ....... 485' .670 Mr Hayes .. .. 130 320 . Hakaterame-a 405 1040 Black Forest ,' : 460 910 Haldon (!) ',..'. !.. ; ... 350 9UO Haldon (2) 690 1140 Gray's Hillr. .„, 600 1160 Grampians ~...< v ... 630 1200 Whaksback 400 b'oo Peel Forest . ; 150 550 Orari . ~.. 580 860 Four Peaks 330 610 Sherwood . ' 420 10CO Ashwiek 500 1340 Simon's Pass . .............. 400 -690' Some of the rentals bid were go-much too high that the runs we're. thrown up, and in other cases the lessees had to beg for reduction of the rents. Certainly present .lessees should have the option, of renewal at, valuation. Then the present, tenants could go ahead and stock .up again; under present conditions it -will riot ba done, on the runs with only ;three i years to run. ',' To the. Editor of the "Tiniaru. Herald." Sir, —In your issue of Wednesday,; appeared; a fetter by one signing himself " Ruat Coelum," whichl (like .nianv othen?) consider has been written'by .'some--' one who knows-as much about' saving snow 7 bound sheep as-an aboriginal. ,y If "Ruat Coelum" thinks-he can. make enough/.iproi, fit in one year to ,pay for replacing 1 his stock, loss cf ewes in laml>ihg time (through a hard winter) damage to wool, and fences, etc., he is a clever man. Will' a manager keep down expenses when.--he knows he is losing stock by it? Certainly ■not. Evidently ". Ruat Coelum" has never been much in hilly country in snow time (cr any other-time) or he would know that he is writing falsehoods. "As ;for placing hay on. suitable spots for distribution in snow-time, this might- do .on flab country, where B.C. evidently comes from. It is well known by shepherds and owners, that sheep fed on'dry feed for any length of time.when snow-bound ' die off in the spring.. Regarding the two falls (viz., 1903 and 1895), the snow .in 1903 did not lie, for nearly the time itdid in 1895, but probably ' ; Ruat- .Coelum" never, got. out of bed -on those occasions to .see. As for his humble opinion.!, regarding the occupiers of high country being incapable, etc., he. has evidently a very good opinion of his own. capabilities,, but* by his letter he should, try and. get a position as a. cadet on some high country station; and when the next fall '. ; of snow comes, fry and get a place in- the. snow-raking gang. But he should not let thei manager know he is. "Ruat Coelum" as he will want men who /will work ' and nob talk, —I am, etc.,, SNOWRAKER. ;