SERIOUS DROUGHT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 April 1939, Page 6

SERIOUS DROUGHT

POSITION IN LOWER VALLEY. STOCK LOSSES REPORTED. Farmers in the South Wairarapa are in the midst of one of the most severe droughts experienced in the past twenty years. In many cases water tanks' have been dry for weeks and now streams and springs, from which water for household use has been carried, are rapidly drying up. The stock position is serious and fairly general losses of sheep and cattle have been reported. Many sheep have died in bogs and swamps into which they have wandered in search of water. There is also a serious shortage of feed and with the winter coming on the position is far from bright. One dairy factory in the Lower Valley has already closed down, while most of the others are only working part-time. In the bush at the back of the Tauherenikau racecourse a spring has gushed crystal clear water, no matter what weather conditions have prevailed, for at least the past fifty years. Last week, however, the spring dried up. „ . With the continued dry spell increasing havoc has been done to root crops by the white butterfly and the dia-mond-back moth, which farmers state are just as numerous as in past years.