WHAT DROUGHTS COST.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Issue 28, 13 April 1878, Page 2

WHAT DROUGHTS COST.

'From "tho-Land" in "Sydney Mail.") Thf. Chief Stock Inspector's report for tne year 187G was not laid on the table of the Legislative Assembly until the oloso of the week; and now that it has been ine.de public, we have arrived at the conclusion that tho national loss would not have been unbearable if its production had been delayed for another year or two, or for somo indefinite period. It is mcigre ill tho extreme, and devoid of certain details whioh should be published annually by the department which represents the chief industry of this colony. The information of what has been done in tho year J 870 should be to h:ind before the first quarter of the year 1878. The effects of climate, the diseases, the improvement, increase and decrease! should be accurately marked as wo proceed; or, in the absence of notes ofwarning, the faults of the one year ore likely to be repeated the next, and one course bocome the more difficult as we proceed. From our knowftdgfi of tho Chief Stock Inspector, our experience of his assiduous attention to the duties of his department, we ate led to tho belief that in the present instance he feels heartily ashamed of the' report in question, Doubtless, ho regrets that a well-organized department with an efficient anil numerous star!' could not produce something better and more serviceable. We feel eoufidont that in the present instance tho faults rests mom With the jtockownors than with the officials. There ig no authorised system by which the details necessary to form a ruttim can bo collected. The department has to trust to tho courtesy of tho stockowncrs to supply information, and we regret that appeals for such do not meet with a hearty response. We have beforo us circulars issued by the department in former yearn, requesting graziers tn furnish a fuw particulars of their hir. is, cattle, and bhoop, of diseases snd loo...: and other detuls likely te prjve inf , m~ ami beneficial. These

circulars were forwarded by district inspectors, and in the most polite manner. : They concluded with these words :—" In aiking for these particulars, you will of course understand that, so far as your individual case is concerned, the information yon favor me with will be held strictly private and confidential, and will Im> made public only "in globo" for each district;" but withal they only partially effected their object. When We ]>eruse the questions asked, wo find that any stockowner of ordinary intelligence could fill up one of these papers, and give, if not accurate, approximate details in less than an hour; but very few of the recipients ceded this brief period to lienetit the department and the public. Indeed, their reticence regarding pastoral interests is somewhat remarkable, particularly when wo consider that tho oflieers who seek the information are paid from a fund made up hy tho contributions of stockowners. Being ooguLsant of the fact that owners of stock, lessees of Crown hinds, and others will not unbosom themselves, can we blame the Chief Stock Inspector when ho says, regarding the present return: —" I am not to blame, as I am unable to obtain the information sooner or in sufficient quantity ?" Then' is but one remedy, " compulsion," and regretfully wo make tho suggestion. It is-not well to hamper industries With laws which confine them in certain grooves, but there are cases where it is necessary. Tho present is one, and it is absolutely requisito that full and accurate information shall be forthcoming regarding the condition of our stocks and pastures. It is only by having this that we can guard against such contingencies as those we have experienced in the past three seasons. As we remarked many months back, when dealing with that disagreeable subject, overstocking, it is not creditable to a civilized community to have plains annually strewn with stock dying from starvation. We punish the pounukcepCT who allows a horse or other dumb animal to pass a few hours without food, while WO allow the big grazier who cruelly leaves his flocks and herds to perish on grassless and waterless plains to escape scot free.

We regret exceedingly that we have been compelled to furnish so lugubrious a preface to the Chief Inspector's report. Fortunately it has one redeeming feature, and one which, in a measure, accounts fiir the delay in its publication ; we refer to tho last part, which contains a statement or estimate of tho increase and decrease of stock in various districts from June, 1870 to the corresponding month in 1877. This is useful, inasmuch as it affords same information regarding the losses caused by the drought immediately preceding the one just broken up. It will be remembered that in 1575 we had a partial drought which affected our Hocks and herds to a slight extent. This was followed by what we rimy term a general drought in 1870 ; and we have led into 1877 with poor prospects, for in the first quarter of that year the accounts from the Riverine districts were not cheering. More recent still, the end of October found tiie Macqnorie, tho Liverpool Plains, and tho Namoi in a critical position— a term which could be applied to all districts in December of last year and in January of tho present year. With an approximate idea of the losses of the latter half of IS7G. and the first; half of 1877, we can roughly estimate the decrease caused bv the drought of the pnst four months, as according to our reports, the districts south and west are almost reduced to the lamentable state in which they were at [tho close of 1876. According to the return before us the 1875 drought cost us 203,300 head of cattle and 2,364,861 sheep. The increase of horses must not be placed on the other side of the account, for it merely represents an increase in ratio with former years. It will bo seen by reference to the report that some districts suffered very severely, notably Hay, which decreased by '14,230 cattle arid 1,286,273 sheep; Dnbbo, 70,000 cattle and 000,000 sheep; Forbes, 55,000 cattle and 423,533 sheep; and Corowa, 0500 cattle and 441,500 sheep. If the decrease were not shown in the aggregate, it might be thought that the "losses" simply meant the removal of the sheep and cattle from one district to another; but there is not even this hope, aud we must only opnfcss that it is too probable that the missing stock perishod by starvation or drought. Worse still do these drought reflections appear when wo look to tho tables of former y»arn, and study tho natural increase which has followed the brooding of sheep and cattle, the progress made between 1860 and 1875, then the ohook in 1876, when wo came as far as increaso is concerned to a standstill; and these, with the present return, should define our present positiou. Had the country been improved,! bad water been conserved and cultivation practised, our stoekownera could count at the present time at least five millions of ■heap and half a million of cattle more than the present slock. Wo four that our estimate is far Iwlow tho mark. We hive no means of eheoking it. Tho returns of 1877 collected nix weeks back will not—in fact they cannot—oven approximately furnish particulars of our present position. We must wait until 1870 heforo wo can determine what the bad seasons of 1875-0-7 cost Now South Wales.