THE MACKENZIE COUNTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 209, 25 August 1908, Page 2

THE MACKENZIE COUNTRY.

THE i'ALL W SAOW. By Telegraph.—i u-bs Association. Ufiristdiurcii, Lust Night. The Commissioner oi Crown .Lands (ill-, JK. C. Goldsmith) lias just relumed from a visit to the Mackenzie coici' try. 11l the course of a brief interview with a. Truth reporter, Jie saia_ <liiat though the snow had been lying ou the ground for six weeks there was still a depth of between one and two feet between Burke's Pass and Tekapo. On the Hat country there was from, two to three feet ol s'uuw. There were aft 3in of snow at Tekapo, and 011 the hills at Richmond there must have been over oft- Jit was impossible to *ay at present what the loss to pastoralisls would be, but Mr. Goldsmith was inclined to believe that the estimates I published were exaggerated, i'lie loss [ would have been as big a» chat of 1895 : but for the fact that' a fortnight afI ter the fall a thaw occurred which | gave some "'black" country (the ground on which the snow had melted). After that there was a frost, and the shepherds were able to drive the sheep over the frozen snow to the clear land.' Ait present, Air. troldsniitlh said, the sheep are very weak, and the trouble is that when the spring feed comes they will Scoiir terribly. The station ' owners will probably lose very heavily from this cause. In sonio of the country there 'have been a number of land slips, and m every sup dead sheep are to bo seen. The snow-drifts in the gullies have also been fatal, and one .cannot estimate yet how many oar-, cases they concealca. The statioaovraers will only be able to gunge, their losses when mustering and shearing takes place. The children in the Mackenzie country rather enjoyed their experience. At Burke's l'a?s township there wore 30 in the snow, and for. two weeks the children could not go to •school. Instead of spending their time assimilating learning they had tihe time of their lives with tobogganing and snowballing. The amount of energy they spent in makirtg a toboggan siido would nearly have cleared the township of every vestige of snow.