In a Motor Car

Horowhenua Chronicle, 24 November 1915, Page 3

In a Motor Car

- A WUli TUIIVUUU yuiiaiuNO LAND. What perhaps is one oi the longest j motor, -tours ever undertaken through- | out Queensland was completed towards the end of September by.jVlr G. W. uhatinore, director ami luanagei' oi the ford Motor company. The journey, accomplished! in a 20 ii.p. i'orti ear, was across the central anu western portions oi' the country, the total distance cmemi being 2650 miles. Considering the drought conditions, ' taken as a whole, the roads may bo ( c.'aiisoil as excellent, and the journey, ' which occupied three weeks, was completed without any difficulty wJlatov? r . Gene tally speaking, the condition oi tlic country, which is in the grip "i one of the severest droughts on recorl, is perhaps in as bad a. state as it is possible to imagine; in lact, city iolk. nave not t'luT faintest conception ol the appalling conditions that exist. The stock, both sheep ami cattle, is being depicted seriously. Even with -no . millions of stock in the country it is a struggle which cannot endure indehititoly, and unless the drought terminates at an early date' there will oo still greater losses. Certain localities have been favoured with light to moderate rains during the past few months audi the wonderful response of grass and herbage is retleuted in the condition oi the stock, but unless further rainlails the spring herbage will be drieu up by the summer heat, with consequences ilia D need not be dese ibot'. Conspicuous use has been made ot scrub timbers in an endeavour to keep life in the starving stocii. For hundicdts ol miles mulga, malice and coolibah scrubs have ueen cut down, but, unfortunately, in many localities only small quantities ol ,&e above edible scrubs nave been leit standing, so that" unless rain falls at an early date the position of the stockowners can be better imagined that described. Indeed, '.so desperate have matters become that I endeavours have been made to' Keep life in the stock by feeding them en prickly-pear, which, unfortunately, abounds in some of the richest country in Queensland. While on this question it might be interesting to people to know that the prickly-pear pest ii> spreading rapidily over all parts oi Central Queensland. its insidious growth is so vicious that once it takes root it is almost impossible to eradicate it. Practically the whole ot the country lrom Toowoomba to Morven, a distance of 300 miles, is infested :io thickly and to such an extent that the road in places is almost impassable. A slight idea of the seriousness of the situation may bo gathered when it is mentioned that the cost of clearing the pear is greater Than the value o. the land; the consequent result being that the pest is alioAved Uurestrioteu freedom to spread in all directions, and this vast area forms a propagating nursery, whereby seed is disseminated to germinate in localities hundreds of miles distant, being conveyed by passing cattle, birds and wind: m fault, heavy growths of pear were seen north Oi Springsure. Tho only serious attempt aL eradication appeared to be at Duincca, where the syndicate controlh i bv Mr Roberts has neon endeavour,ng to exterminate it by means of poisonous gas. For upwards of ten miles the effect of gas was apparent oil tin pear leaves. Its effect is to cause a brown discolouration which, outwardly indicates- a withering and dying oi the leaf, but the treatment evidently does not penetrate 111fi the sap. as oil all sides you can see the spring growth of young health off-shoots. The community- at large have no conception ofthegrea;

pear that, apparently interruptedly, is spreading itseir over the besi Queensland country and now covers about 30,000,000 acres. tor upwards of 2000 mites r;:/. proof fences were seen, though, strange to say, not one single rabbit was secu, the drought evidently being responsible lor this. Even the wheat growing. in so far as the attempts thallnive been made between Toowooinba and Roma are concerned, are melancholy failures, and the "looked-for" fields of grain have been turned into temporary pasturage for starving stock. On one station passed through 1000 .sheep were found in one flock suffering through eating heart-flower scrub - a poisonous weed growing near Aramac. One of the significant features observable during the trip, and morn particularly in the drought-stlricken area, is the common use of motor cars and motor lorries against old time horse teams, owing to the fact that the country is abnormally dry, and, in t!'<; absence of horse feed in natural grass, hordes have to be - sta hie ted. It can therefore be easily understood that with chaff costing upwards or Id per lb., it makes the use of noises almost prohibitive, and the timely invention oi the motor car to the man located,, in many cases, hundreds of miles from the nearest railway, is a boon not measured by words.