DROUGHT IN CANTERBURY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2645, 16 December 1915, Page 8

DROUGHT IN CANTERBURY

MOTOR TOUR THROUGH THE SOUTH ISLAND. "Right from Lytteltoii to Pnlmerston South I did not see a blade of green grass," snid Mr. 11. G. Hill, ot tlie iiristol and Dominions i'roducers' Association, who lias just returned from a 15Ul)-mile motor trip through the South j Island. "The wltolo of the Canterbury i'lains, south of Christchurch at auj. rate, seemed to be. burnt up. At TaiTapu, which is usually one ol tho greenest spots in the whole of tho country, tho grain crops were coming into ear eight inches from the ground, and they were turning tho cattle on them to c.Tf them oif. llouiid about Temuka aild Gcraldine, up towards the mountains, j the country was a little better, but south of Timaru to Pnlmerston South I the same droughty conditions prevail. ] Why there is not some big movement to irrigate these plains is a continual j mystery to me. There is possibly no ' country in the world so suitable to irri- . gat-ion as tho Canterbury I'lains, and hundreds of millions of gallons of water i aro going to waste every day down the few big rivers, which if diverted here and there into canals would ensure decent crops over the greater part of the country. . 1 "Hound about Akaroa the country is . fjreen compared with the plains, but it is the driest summer experienced i there for fifty years. I was informed that the biggest crop of cocksfoot seed taken off the Peninsula was 180,000 sacks. They will, they say, consider themselves fortunate if l!i,000 sacks are collected this season. Springs . have dried up this summer that have never been known to fail before. There have been light rains from time to time, ( but-on every occasion they have been followed by scorching nor'-ivesterly gales that absorb every particle of moisture in and above the ground." From Palmerston North south to Dunedin, and on to lnvercargill, and up to Lumsden, the country is looking every bit as good as the North Island, and the heart of tho man on the land is glad." Mr. Hill went right through the Central Otago district to Lake Wanaka, saw the wonderful utility of irrigation round Alexandria, where eomo of the finest orchards in New Zealand flourish in the midst of a barren country. Turn the water on to tho rocks, and they crumblo up into the finest fruit-grow-ing soil, but it must bo kept well watered to prevent it hardening at all. Mr. Hill thinks that there is water-power enough going to waste on the Kawarau River to supply the whole of Otago with elcctric current. It took thrcte horses to drag the motor-car out of the sand on the wastes round Cromwell, where irrigation. .is badly needed to make a garden of-the w'lderness. From Pembroke, Mr. Hill motored via Lindus Pass, and Lakes Ohau and Pukaki to the Hermitage at Mount Cook, an ostablialimtlt perfectly run hy the Government.- It was. almost full of guests when lie'was there, and he was'told that all accommodation had i«een fully booked for the Christmas holidays.. The only thing lacking at the Hermitage was a billiard-table. When it snowed hard for'a day or two time hung a little heavily on one's hands, and billiards would supply both entertainment and exercise. "Whilst away lie travelled 1500 miles b.v motor-car without orossing his own tracks.