THE DROUGHT AND ITS EFFECTS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1618, 26 January 1886, Page 2

THE DROUGHT AND ITS EFFECTS.

Messrs Freeman B. Jackson & Co.'s stock sale report, whioh we^publishjglsg; where, draws attention (observes tne Wanganui Chronicle) to the long-con-tinued drought, and to the consequent foot that it has to a large extent paralysed the sales, the lack of feed onerating against stock of all kinds changing hands,' and m fact reducing the trade to such a listless condition that at the most recent ; sales the, yards have been^half empty.: Badly off, However, as wejmay think ourselves here? the 'severity onfthe drought is not to \be compared; fofc one moment with that to which the Australian farmers Jiay v e : hadito.Jbep6&e inured,: and which is eve£ riiore thgn usually! sultry this year. An idea of what pur l Australian -neighbours have to contend' with may be gathered from a perusal of the following extract from the letter of j an occasional correspondent of the Wei-, lington Evening Press, who owns a laree? farm at Bega, a rich pastoral and agri-j cultural district m the south of Newj South Wales, and who writes as follows; on the 19th December : — " We have had; some slight showers, sufficient to causa' gtowthin everything ( that.hns life,in r ,it.| But the sad fact is now only tdo'ap-i parent, that our grasses are dead beyond hope of recovery, There is no seed toj be got, as the drought has scorched everything. There has been no spring growth such as we have always had| and now that the artificial grasses are 1 absolutely dead, we.cannot look for .seed from tbis colony. Under these' circtymj stances we are looking to New Zealand for a supply, for we shall be compelled to sow again m the autumn, or otherf wise Jet the; ground- stand still for an| other year, Th? dreary waste of dead grass has such' a depressing effect that sometimes we oannot help losing all hope. The outlook is gloomy m the extreme, and property is neither to be sold nor let." Commenting on this our Wellington contemporary observes : — " It is now a well ascertained and grievous fact that South Australia will not produce this year more wheat than she will waq't for her qvrn consumption and for seed. Large quantities of New Zealand wheat will have to be imported into, that colony m order to fulfil engagements fpr 'Adelaide flour.' As for New South Wales and Queensland, there, is a profitabje market there for grain, of all sorts; man, hay, chaff, and every sort of green stuff; and, as we have shown byour correspoti. dent's letter, there is.actremendqus trade to be done m grass 'seed by anyone wno has the nous to send the best kirid promptly. Bye grass and cocksfoot are

what are wanted. What is most of all wanted is Freetraile between Australia and New Zealand."