DROUGHT IN AUCKLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 22

DROUGHT IN AUCKLAND.

A SERIOUS POSITION. (From Our Own Correspondent.) ! AUCKLAND, February 18. Beneath a hea\y palL of sn.oke the countr\ districts of the Auckland province are gpsping for rain, the early appearance of which is the only hope now of averting what tlueatens to be widespread and appalling lois. Since the opening of the jcar there has been no rain except a shower or two in isolated districts, and from present appearances it might be easily March or April before the rain comes. Day after <lav the sun -tare? pitoously down on the baivinif oarih. and those accustomed #to <-h i i vc climatic conditions can Fee no sign of i.ir.i, and «omp c\en go so far as to ihp\ would not be surprised if Auckland had another two months of drought. All hough the pastures and turnip fields held out lemarkably well throuhout Janujiy and for the first week of February, the'la«t seven or eight days has secnaswift change, and the feeding power of the ■\ Lactation 1* going down at an alarming; i ite In a week or two stockowners will ho faced with the problem of how to "keep the 4'nmials alive where there is no pwampv land. The make of butter for the pioMnce ha" decieased by nearly half, and a- compme'-l with an output of 350 ton? per fortnight for export, the fortnight's cxpoit to elup at the cn<l of this ueek cannot eveeed 175 tons, if it comes within measurable distance of even that. February 21. - The country dish Jets of the Province of Auckland are in an exceedingly unhappy position, and if tho total loss sustainod during the past two months were ever totalled up it would run to an enormous amount.

Already inquiries are being received by tho Farmers' Freezing Company for Quotations for sheep for boiling down, it being fed led by a number of settlers that they will have no feed fpr tho animals. One of theoe inquirers is the owner of some 10.000 sheep, so that the seriousness of the position will readily be recognised, and, moreover, sheep for boiling' down are only worth about 2s 6d per head.

The freezing works, both at Glasgow (near Onehunga) and at Auckland, are working to the utmost limit to freeze tho biggest number of laxnbs possible ere the drought stops the supply of freezers. Discouraging 1 reports are coming from the country farmers, stating that they fear that their lambs will never be got up to freezing conditions. The butter in store for export for the fortnight ending 1 to-day has dropped, a= compared with the preyious fortnight, l>* over 3300 boxes. In 6i"x weeks the mainfor export has dropped by 167 tons, and it i» expected that in a week or two a num-

ber of factories will have to close down* Settlers are driving their stock six and! >!e\on miles now for water, and in hundreds of instances are carrying water long distances for domestic purposes. Tha Public "Works Department is carrying water by rail m great tanks from Tauhoa toi Wsyliy. on the North of Auckland line.. In many districts streams that wore never known to fail before have entirely disap< pearixl. One 1* icminded of Mr Wragge's prophet v that in 1907 the year would open with c\re**t\e iai'lls and floods, and the; ye-ir 1908 with long-continued drought 1 , "hile in the same year 'here would bo &' buy eruption somewhere along the thermal plateau between Ruapehu anrl Rotorua. We liarl the big floods in January. 1907, when' tho Waikato railway was blocked for weeks, and now we are ha\inq; tho drought. The next thins m look for is the eruption. CAMBRIDGE. February 24. Owing to the drought, the amount, paid out suppliers of milk for the past month by af local dairy company was £700 less than for ' the corresponding month last vcar r There are indications that the drought is breaking up.