THE DROUGHT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2544, 30 October 1888, Page 2

THE DROUGHT.

(BY ELECTRIC TKLKKRAPH.—COPYRIGHT.) Sydney, October 29. 'I'lleke are no signs of the drought breaking up. In many parts of the colony the thermometer stands at 103 in the shade. In the immediate neighbourhood of Howlong the heat is not quite so bad but in other parts of the same district the crops are almost beyond hope. Trains conveying water are arriving daily and their freight is being sold at four shillings per hundred gallons. In the Eden district (towards the Coast) heavy rains have fallen and the country will be able to hold out for some time.

In Nowra the district is extremely dry and disastrous bush fires are raging in all directions; in one station alone twenty thousand acres of grass have been destroyed. At Gundagi, vain has fortunately fallen over the farming area, but in Argylo many settlers ares selling out their stock, fearing the disastrous result of a dry season. The crops in that quarter are also suffering greatly, find potato-planting has entirely ceased. Near Inverell the sheep are dying in large numbers, but at Kempsey grass is still abundant. Bush fires are also devastating the Ntioiiie district Burra Burra Station has been burnt out, and several runs in Walget.t and Moree are destroyed.