DROUGHT IN CANTERBURY.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 January 1916, Page 5

DROUGHT IN CANTERBURY.

SOIL XOT THOROUGHLY SOAKF*" FOR TWO YEARS. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, January 25. A journey was recently, made through Canterbury by the Prime Minister in order to examine personally the effects <>f the drought that Ims continued for two years. The conditions which he observed were described by Mr Massey. "The drought in Canterbury Is much more serious than many people in the North Island can possibly imagine," said Mr. Massey. "It seems extraordinsway that in this island there has been even more than the normal amount of rain, taking the island as a whole, and that in Southland the season is probably the best in the last twenty-five yeans, yet in Canterbury during the past two years there has never been sufficient vain to soak the soil thoroughly. Some idea of the severity of the drought may be gained from' the fact that in South Canterbury, we saw trees 30 and 40 years old that were dying because-there was not sufficient moisture in the soil to keep them alive. That the cereal trors are-not up to the average is not to he wondered at. The wonder is that the wheat crops have done so well, and it goes to prove that with proper cultivation even in a dry period fairly good results can be obtained. Contrary ;to the usual experience, oats will not yield as many bushels per acre as wheat, the former cereal being more severely affected by the drought than the other. The deficiency in oats, bo far as Canterbury is concerned, is likely to be counterbalanced by the heavy crop which is almost ready for harvesting in Southland. Tlie farmers are taking the position very philosophically, but it goes almost without saying that in many cases the balance "to the present year will be on the wrong side.""