THE AUSTRALIAN DROUGHT.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3350, 1 December 1919, Page 2

THE AUSTRALIAN DROUGHT.

’ ' AMAZING MORTALI‘T¥. : Some observations of the fe*au'ful 'lavagf(.-Au. occasioned by -the drought ;amcmgst' shc-c-p on Austraiian estates :\H‘l‘(? Iliad? on T}ulrsday morning‘ by 1:111 An'ck‘.=.md gontlomzln whc recently

retul'ne<l from '3 visit to the Commonwealth. Taking New South VValeS as one of the worst instances of the vagary of nature so typical of Aus tralia, he stated that‘ the death rate was positivelynniazing, for of ‘lhe eight million lambs that had bi‘-‘ZI ndiiecl to the flocks during the _l_ri:rt la-nl)ir“:.r:' season no less than six mil"on had succumbed. Not only had [the lambs peiisliecl bust thhe niothers were also unable to withstand the additional demand on their >.lre.:dy s::'aine(.l physical condition, 8.11:‘. were: rlv"in;; in thousands. The situation was ‘,'ai*:‘.:»l*.arl\' Cu'li'(‘ in New South Wales :Ind(gueens land, and so severe is "he phenomenon that the grass is dying nut, at the roots, and liundrerls of ones of ronnei*ly vel'da.n~'t pastures lJ"1‘-70 now been reduced ‘to a s-.1n.1y 1.-:a<stui, which ‘is stirred up by thc- wind an-tl I'apidl_\¢ scattered over fui'i'hel' dev.l.<’tate<l'*.—ll'eas. 'Squatters are optimistic l.i'mveVe:- over --:the ‘rectipemtire possibilities of tlieir holdings, anal cm-tr-nd that once the clear sky gives way to Inoistul'e—lail.len. clouds and eopionsl}~' *"dis£n_e'l'se's ‘these over the !\‘roll]‘li‘l‘)" iiilp llatter will ill]llli_(.‘i(diEl’f|?i_V' ros[;»on(l wittli the necessary pasture. Another of the outcomes of the drought ‘hag been’the flooding of the stock markets, it being realised that it the low price pl‘CV{l.ilill,Q' than to the i.ue\'i.tv.l)le fate awziiting‘ them on the runs. The supply is" much in access of the demand, «and 3 percentage of the stock is of such inferior quality 1-lmt. it is only fit for canning.