SERIOUS POSITION

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 73, 27 March 1934, Page 14

SERIOUS POSITION

DROUGHT IN NELSON

THE FARMING OUTLOOK

(Special to the "Evening Post.") NELSON, March 26. The long period of drought conditions in the Nelson' district still continues, and with the winter approaching the outlook for the dairy farmer is serious. The rainfall for this year to date is 4.18 inches, and in the last six months only 6 inches has fallen. The drought commenced last October, which was almost rainless, following 454 inches of rain the previous mouth which promised a bountiful season November and December passed, and the outlook began to appear serious in spite of a fall of 2 inches at Christmas.- A spell of dry south-westerlies in January further parched the district and it was only a storm of short duration at the end of February that broke the spell. Hot sun and drying winds this month have added to the parched' and bare appearance of the country-1 side. Records kept for 50 .years show that the period from last September was the dryest six months over those years.

Naturally, the continued dry weather is having its effect on the water supplies, and streams and swamps in many cases are now bone dry. Springs which have never been known to dry up before have now ceased running. One elderly Waimea Plain farmer, who has spent a lifetime in the swamp area, states that he has'never seen the swamps drier—in fact, the term swamp, is now a misnomer, for such areas aro as dry as the rest of the country. This year the hap crops were generally light, and many farmers have been compelled by the lack of green pasture to hayfeed their stock through the autumn. They now face the winter with depleted stocks of fodder, and in many cases no money to purchase moie. The ruling price for butterfat in the district is 6d per lb. Milk suppliers in the city are having difficulty in maintaining supplies.

The succession of dry seasons,1 with accompanying low prices for butterfat, has resulted in many farmers looking for something more profitable than dnirying, and some are replacing their icows with sheep, being thus encouraged by the better prices now being obtained for wool and fat lambs.

One industry that' the dry weather has not affected is the. export of fruit. In spite of the frost' damage done early in the season at Stoke,, it is estimated that the total export from the district this season will be over'9oo.ooo. cases.