THE DROUGHT IN AUSTRALIA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10712, 6 November 1912, Page 4

THE DROUGHT IN AUSTRALIA.

The losses of sheep' in Australia through the recent drought axe much more serious than is generally considered. The Pastoralists' Review says itiiat Australia- this year has passed tkrough; a terrible ordeal, and few, except the, man on the land, know f hew terrible. One man, . u-Lo perhaps has more widely spread interests in New South Wales stock than anyone else, informs us that he puts the. loss of grown sheep down at 2-3 per cent, or over 10,000,000 in that one State, with the additional loss of over 40 per cent of the lam be. His own losses hare exceeded these .percentages. Another pastoraiist from the north-west tells us that round him the lasses are over .30 per cent, i Most of these sheep died after the rain came. Travellers report that in the Southern Riverina districts they never saw so many sheepskins hanging on "the fences, even during the long drought. The. drought this time was short, but unusually severe; had it j lasted another month the position would have been serious, indeed. The losses in South Queensland, Victoria*, and South Australia were also very heavy, and it will not surprise us to see a shortage of at least 800,000 bales of wool in this reason's clip. The condition that aheep are in w] e» e uey ha.v» been subjected to drought conditions has been noted by New Zealanderrs who hare toured parts of Australia. recently. A shortage of anything like 300,000 in the Australian wool clip, at a time when there is such a keen demand for wool, must .have an important bearing upon the colonial sale* this season.