AUSTRALIAN DROUGHT

Waikato Times, Volume 92, Issue 14261, 12 January 1920, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN DROUGHT

DEPREDATIONS OF WILD DOGS. HEAVY LOSSES OF SHEEP. The city man, surrounded by all Hie amenities that, make life worth living (says a Sydney correspondent), knows little and sometimes cares less, of the trials of the man outback, whose life, far from being a perpetual delight, is something of a nightmare, what with drought or some other pestilence. Wild dogs, sneaking like ghostly figures among the flocks, are causing immense losses west of the Darling. It was a terrible picture that a deputalion to the Minister for Lands the other day drew of the depredations of the wild dog. Through drought and dogs this year they had lost 100,000 sheep. Of these losses, 50 per cent, were due to the dogs. Apart from these losses, it is a costly business to get rid of the wild dogs. Tn some instances they have had to pay £5 per scalp. The dogs, according to the deputation, are making it impossible for sheep to be run on the lands affected. 'Hie prospect for the small man seems to be about as black as Erebus; he can only abandon his holding if the dogs get full sway. The bigger man has a chance of giving the affected land over to cattle. The landowners have spent about £20,000 in building several hundred miles of dog-proof fences and in keeping them in repair. The deputation asked the Government tn build 150 miles of new fence within the State and repair 180 miles of partially dog-proof fence, at an estimated cost of £50,000. This new fence and other assistance the Minister promised. All that the landowners are asked to do is lo cope with the dogs inside the fence. Even this is a big and expensive job, for, to take only one set of figures quoted, they had to pay £1329 for 425 dogs that were killed. One thing certain is Unit in the now Federal Parliament the voice of the man on the land will not ho as the bleating of a lamb in the wilderness. What might be termed the Country Party will practically hold the balance of power, and it is sure to make itself felt, especially as many of its members are experienced Parliamentarians.