THE DROUGHT IN AUSTRALIA,

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 13, 23 December 1862, Page 3

THE DROUGHT IN AUSTRALIA,

(From the Si/lncy Morning Herald.)

The drought of tliis year recalls some of the most distressing periods of our historj'. More than twenty yeais ago the visitiition <;i' a similar calamity, though of much more severity, plunged the colony into distress, and greatly exhausted the means of nil classes. At that time the intorior displa3 - ed an aspect of desolation which almost equalled the descriptions of Eastern dro :ght. TJie ground became bare, and grass dried up at the roots, and the cattle perished by thousands. We hear that this disaster is to some extent repeated, and that as many as forty head of 1 cattle have been lost by single farmers in the county of Cumberland. Up to a certain point it is possible to avert this total loss, but a long continuance of drought starves the poor animals for want of grass and poisins them by putrid water. We have happily had many years free from such visitation, and few probably recollect what it was ; how full i of alarm and suffering, how fraught with commercial disaster ; for all interests suffer ■with the distress of one. We pity the poor deluded people who have gone on their s.lectcd land, without capital and credit — without the power to wait for a crop, which in many instances will be hardly worth reaping. It is not a time for reproaches, but it is a time for instruction, and we fcur we are destined to learn, at much cost, what political economy might have taught us, that with cottage farmers the alternative of a crop is starvation. Capital, wherever it is neither privileged nor persecuted, is the great benei'actor, for if it prevents wasteful consumption in abundant years, it at least inteicepts the approach of destitution. The farmers are not, however, the only sufferers, the squatting interest will be much depressed in this arid zone. They have incurred great obligations and are subject to heavy charges, and the drought is to many sanguine persons like a fiat in bankruptcy. The fact is, the great prosperity of past years has blinded the eyes of many to the hazard of this calling. We greatly regret to hear of the severity of this calamity in Queensland. Had a year or two of success crowned this colonising movement, Queensland would have escaped the great danger of all rapidly developed settlements; but the check of a long drought will be incalculable. The newly arrived immigrants are naturally much discouraged. Hut we hope they will line! real friends, who will assist them over their difficulties, with the assurance that, notwithstanding the privations of an exceptional season, they have a noble inheritance. The vast tract over which they may find employment, will prevent an}' great or lasting suffering, although it is probable that coming at this tini" they may endure much inconvenience and disappointment. It is. indeed, a great 'rial of patience to enter a new country as a stranger when the heaven is as brass and ihe eartli~as iron ; when the heat doubles .he burden of tod : when the long-desired produce of the kitchengarden is to be seen only in a few bitter cabbages and demoralised potatoe- • when with effrontery unspe;''->-'ble, the pun haser of a decaying bunch <>l aspar.igus i.s uski-d half a crown. We h hr«?i -> r «? seen such times, ;i:,a hope we shall never see them again. After all, commerce I'J's done something iov us. The colonies a r- 1 not all , ;,ually uu.'urtunau-, or so at once. Wnen tie las', .ir'mght happened, flour was in tins colony £ t so a ton. Thus, whatover littli" advantage v;^ gained by the few fanners, &U' whole community, including the pastoral interest, .-ulfered much loss by the extreme cost of subsish nee. A laborer might earh live shillings a day, but if he had a a f.vtriy !O kecp,?his bread would take the gre ilir pat of his wages, and his rent would v.v.'.lumv uj the rest. JL-'oi tunes were made, .aid we may add, many were lost, but the poor fegggX^iinched severely, for here as eLeuhere, l|j|||Psread is the great blessing of the poor. "Ifl^ljytuftralian colonies now extend over degrebs of latitude which auihorise the hope that nodea:th will heneeforta ever be general, and our commerce is now sutlicient'lv established to prevent the monopoly of food.

It used to be the theory that we have in Australia certain cycles wliieh bring on the colony a season of drought. It is, however, to be recollected that we have not j-cen this theory illustrated since colonisation extended to new regions. Sir Thomas JJri.-bane, \rkjn he propounded this notion, knew liulc more than the strip of sea coast — -we have an interior and other colonies which evidently' are not always subject tv the same atmospheric changes.

The arrival of rain will, of course, be too late to revive crops which have long lacked l.cec^s-ary moisture, but it wouM s,K)i>. revive the earth and ivstorc the cattle. We have no right to murmur at a country that has given su much ut so little cist of care and toil; but who does not oi'teu glance at the sky with a souse of balilcd anticipation, and breathe a avisli that the operation of those benign laws which govern t lie inatei ial world, may be found compatible with our reception of that precious gift for- -which ail nature around us seems to languish.