DROUGHT ENDED.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 October 1921, Page 7

DROUGHT ENDED.

RAIN IN HAWKE'S BAY. The passengers who arrived in Wellington from Hawke’s Bay- by Tuesday night’s express reported that I»gn® steady rain was falling throughout that district yesterday, and that, as a result, the whole country was looking beautiful (says the Times). This is the third successive dry year in Hawke’s Bay, and scarcely a week ago the prospect for the sheepfarmers was very gloomy. There was very little prospect indeed of the season's lambs being fattened, and anyone with a knowledge of the pastoral industry knows what a serious financial loss this means. Beyond this again, there was very little hope of feed for stock in the summer months.

On Friday, however, light rain began to fall, and on Saturday it had set in for a soft but steady and bountiful rainfall. By Monday, the average over the district was something like two inches, which was quite sufficient to guarantee the fattening of the season’s lambs and growth enough to carry the pastoralists on past Christmas. Yesterday morning, the rain set in again, lightly but steadily, and was general throughout Hawke’s Bay. “It may not seem much to the people in Wellington,” said a pastoralist who arrived last -night, “but to us in Hawke’s Bay, who have already been through two drought years, this rain ineans quite a million of money, and probably more.”

There is no doubt that the fortunate, rain has done much to put the Hawke's Bay pastoralist, already the victim of sadly fallen prices, in much better heart.