HUGE DROUGHT LOSSES

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 116, 6 August 1927, Page 26

HUGE DROUGHT LOSSES

QUEENSLAND CONDITIONS LARGE DEATH TOLL Seldom if ever have loan and agency companies had to face such disastrous drought losses as has been the case in Queensland as a result of the drought which arose in 1926. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Australian Estates and Mortgage Co., Ltd., Mr. Andrew Williamson, chairman, said that not only had the company been involved in a heavy expenditure in the preservation of the company’s valuable livestock, but the drought entailed considerable losses of sheep and cattle, as well as nearly all the lambs. The wool clip was seriously diminished, and the income from stock sales was reduced to a negligible figure. The company’s actual expenditure in combating the drought amounted to £145,000, and it is estimated that the loss to the whole State of Queensland amounted to £l2 million. A substantial part of these losses and drought expenditure would have been saved if the policy persistently advocated by the pastoralists of linking up the railways had been carried out. In conclusion, Mr. Williamson said that Australia’s priceless asset of the merino wool industry could be maintained in the highest state of efficiency only when conducted upon a large scale and with adequate financial backing. Therefore it was vital that closer settlement be carried out with a deliberate and due regard to the maintenance of the wool industry.