Mt. Benger Mail WEDNESDAY, NOV. 16, 1938. Be Just and Fear Not. AN UNENDING STRUGGLE

Mt Benger Mail, 16 November 1938, Page 3

Mt. Benger Mail WEDNESDAY, NOV. 16, 1938. Be Just and Fear Not. AN UNENDING STRUGGLE

To retire in the evening, reasonably secure in the expectation of a prolific harvest and waken abruptly to the realisation _ that such hopes were premature, is an unenviable experience. To stand helplessly by and know that in a few brief hours the practical work of a lifetime is being lost possibly forever, is to be assailed by feelingk which those without similar experience can never fully understand. Yet if at the time of the recent cloudburst, the affected district felt that nothing could be worse, Roxburgh has been fortunate in one respect—there was no loss of life. For reasons for thankfuiaess* it is only necessary

to consider some of the disasters that have befallen others. Within New Zealand alone we can instance the Murchison and Napier earthquakes and abroad a formidable list presents itself. Fires in Australia, tornadoes in Florida, Hoods in China, dust storms in the Mid-Western United States and blizzards in the Canadian wheat belt to mention only a few—and all recover. Even while fading from the cable news, the orange groves are being planted and wheat sown once more on Canadian prairies. The elements will always be beyond man’s control, for no matter what defences he 'builds and deems sufficient, nature appears 'always to have a more powerful reply. Yet seldom docs man lose heart—men perhaps occasionally, but man fights on. The tillers of soil the world oyer possess a courage and persevering patience unimagined by those in other occupations, for the soil is an exacting taskmaster. It yields only in proportion (in some cases a minor proportion) to the care bestowed upon it. The damage wrought so suddenly has been tremendous, but with the aid of man’s unremitting labours and the healing years, it miay shortly be that all traces of nature’s savagery will be erased and a compensating era of bountifulness be commenced.