PARKING IN QUEENSLAND.

Patea Mail, 19 January 1882, Page 3

PARKING IN QUEENSLAND.

A letter recently appeared in the Coleraine Albion , in which the writer says : “ Never in ihy life have I seen such losses in sheep as there have been on the Downs during the past season, mostly in breeding ewes and weaners. Some selectors have lost nearly all their ewes, and as a matter of course have no increase; the ewes lambing now stand a better chance. Of 1500 I have only about 500 left, and got 347 lambs. David Mott, from 1100 ewes got 100 lambs ; George Coxen, from 1000 ewes, has 91 lambs ; Ritter, from 1000 ewes, 170 lambs ; and these are some of the best lambings about here. Mott, out of 1100 ewes, has only 200 left. My Taylor, of Cecil Plains Station, near West Prairie, lost 40,000 sheep this season, and he has one of the best, if not the best property in Queensland. So you may picture for yourself, from the losses I have mentioned to you, the kind of seasori we have passed through.' My wheat is a’ failure (total). To give you an idea of the dryness of the country, I may mention that in the first week of March last I planted some early potatoes ; they came up in September very well, but last month we had very sharp frosts that cut them off completely. The early maize I planted was also cut off. There are no regular seasons here, and the only thing you can make sure of is heat in summer and cold in winter. There has been a good deal of rain lately, but it has fallen very partially, snd we did not get our share, but at Ivadaryan it'came down in torrents, and out of the 1500 shorn sheep that were turned out of the shed it killed over 400.”