the Drought in New South Wales.

Manawatu Herald, 14 September 1895, Page 2

the Drought in New South Wales.

From a Sydney paper we. learn that the fires are still sweeping the Richmond district. Several more houses and a large area of crops have been destroyed. Mra Riley, the settler as to whom alarm was felt, has been found safe in the bush, but an aboriginal woman has been burned to death. ( At Sherbrpoke three houses have been destroyed and several others damaged. The country is ablaze for many miles, and the. fires are raging with unabated violence to other districts. The Railway wmmissioners are granting large concessions to pastoralists to enable them to rtmove stock from the parts affected by fire and drought. „, |^ tThe. Gjiyerniflent astronomer, Mr H. C. Russell, iaof opioion that the Colony has entered on a protracted Ifid disißUoos period of drought,

caused by the continued prevalent fquatorial winds driving away rain. Other experts concur that it ifl not improbable that this is the commencement of a cycle of dry years. The prices of meat and produce | are rapidly advancing in the country I districts. At Parramatta the price of beef has been raised Id per lb, and mutton £d per lb. Milk hat ad* vanced Id per quart, and feed is proportionately dear. A passenger train to Bathurat had * a sensational experience passing through the Blue Mountain District, where it had to run the gauntlet through bush fires. The driver and the fireman had their hair singed on their heads and faces. The flames leaped into the carriage windows, and burned the. effects of passengers in the racks. | The dresses of two ladies caught fire, but the flames were extinguished. The Acting-Governor has issued a , proclamation in view of the calamity irom drought, -and sets next Sunday tWfsi£*AJUte%,gt humiliation and prayer. A great rise has taken place in the price of cattle in the Bathurst Digtricfc owing to the drought. Cattle which a few days ago would not have realised £8 per head have sold at £8. - The crops in the northern dairilts of Adelaide ate suffering - warily from drought, and will, it is feared, be ruined unless rain falls soon.