OUTBACK IN AUSTRALIA.

Otaki Mail, 6 August 1923, Page 3

OUTBACK IN AUSTRALIA.

JIH H. B. LUCAS'S BAI'fdURNCBS. In a letter to a member ol the •'Chronicle" stuff, Mr B. E. Luca. writes interestingly ol life in the back country of iXew South Wales where* fie went from Levin to take up a sheep run. Mrs Lucas and I tier son huvu had to return to New' 'Zealand owing to Inc (.tfects ol tbc clhnaie on their Leailh, and ate now in Wangauui, and Mr Lucas expects to some back later. New Zealand, lie -ays, takes a lot of beating'-. He writes : "The Hip in the tram from Sydney to Trifltg station, which is due west about 160 miles, is a very dreary ride. Then we bud ii miles by car from lire-re, and practically no road to follow so you may be sure we were t" not to our journey's end. Everything was dried up here—not a blade of grass, and very little water for the siock. There had been no raUi since last November, so you may guess what the countrv looked like. Some ol the stations lost hundreds ol sheep. Then came the dust storms, which were terrible. The worst one came m Maj- and lasted all day. You could not see a chain in front ol yourself, I and the house was inches deep hi sand and dust; wc gathered over I thre* kerosene tins ol sand out o.i tour l rooms. What do vou think ol thai. Well in Bine we got the extreme I which was six inches of rain, and then the place was that soft and bog- - gy stock could not get about. We , lost about, -2ou sheep bogged, but some stations lost a great many more than ' that, file country U looking spiendkl ' now. green grass everywhere. arvd . plenty" of lambs about. I have been , doing a bit ol trapping' for foxes ~mi so far caught several. We ai« iiavmg ' iovelv weather now, in fact the d<a\'s ' are too v.'a'.m sometimes. ( »'r nearest sov.il, Wav. which is about the ! size of Levin, is 120. miles away, so 'I we don't go there; every day. We get "our mails." twice a week and h a ve to : navel five miles to get j. After a!.!.. , j New Zealand takes a lot o! beating. ' i and 1 think not long in the future. 1 • will make my way back there, to get- • j tie down."- _