DROUGHT IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3201, 31 December 1892, Page 5 (Supplement)

DROUGHT IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

Fkoji the Sydney Mail, who.se special correspondent has been visiting the Western districts of the colony, wo gather that pastoral matters have been in a pad State, owing to the long spell of dry weather, together with the devastation wrought by rabbit". The Darling River station*, once famous for thoir output of sheep and wool, are now described as so many arid wastes, with almost all the stock dead or dyiusr. and the Crown lessees—in the majority of cases—in a state of hopeless bankruptcy. It is difficult f»r anyone living in a country like New Zealanl— that is watered from its length and breadth by never-failing streams—to realise the terrible situation that seems to come round periodically in Australia ; nt which time vast flocks and herds die off before their owners' eyes for want, of grass and water, and without the slightest possibility of savinsr them. We Bhould think that no New Zealander can read the graphic but sad tale of pastoral life on the Darling without a feeling of profound thankfulness that such a contingency is impossible here. The following sketch of oue station ulone gives a aener.il idea of the state of affairs just before ttie recent rains. At this point we sight the famous Mouut Murchison station 011 tlw right bank of the Tiver. Mount Murchison is famed for its wool, sheep, and general equipment, but not, more for any of these than it is for the sterling integrity and magnanimous character of its de iply re* spected manager, Mr A. Mtmro. This station is 200 miles from Bourke by road and 600 by river. It is the piopeitv of the Mombu. Pastoral Coiiifa-iy, which also owns Momba B'id otber lnrce properties. All the Darling squattages lie on one sidn of the river, never on both, thin they have but one river frontage. The Momba Pastoral Company leases 2,000,000 acres of ground, on which it tries to carry the wobbling frames of 338,000 si op. Toe rent for the resumed area was rectntly fixed nt £2 4s9clpcr section (G4O acres) hut was reduced to £2 Isonapp.eil. The ground only carries one .-beep to S acres under favourable conditions. Under the l-abbit regime it takes 10 acres to a sheep, and when he has walked bim-elf down trying to find the food suppo.-ed to lie there for him he is only half a sheep. The jrrass is all gone. The owners have erected over GO miles of wire netniiir on Mount Murchison alone. Thus assisted, the poisoned wheat, poisoned water and poisoned sticks, with herculean aid from the drought the manager has now roduced the number of rabbits to a comparatively harmless quantity.

SICIL TA X BRIG A NDA GE. I'r.cKNT acts of brigandage in Sicily have served n.« a reminder that, the picu]ivsi|iir' but brutal profession of bandit, is still practised in ill at loveliest of islands. Happily foreigners aiv not often troubled by them, and travellers who keep to flic beaten track' are pretty safe. An interesting account or the doings of the banditti is furnished by Consul Stignnd, who writes from Palermo. The reports of a foreigner, he says, on the subject of Sicilian brigandage alwavs excite indignation in the breasts of the islanders, and provoke unpleasant and sometimes insulting retorts in the public press, although the stories of brigandage reported have generally been culled from its columns. They have gone so far as to deny that brigandage exists at all in Sicily, and in such denial linve been supported by a correspondent in a leading English journal. T do not know that there is to be found anywhere an accurate definition of the terms " brigand," " bandit," and i! brigandage." The malefactors of the present day who infest the country are as often as not called brigands and bandits in the local papers, although sometimes they use the term marauders (malandrin) for brigands, and the term malandrinaggio instead of brigiintaggio. NOT SO i,'E.VTI,K.MA.Vr,V AS IN TlUi OI.DKN TIME The marauders of the present day may not be, according to current ideas, so gentlemanly in deportment or so dexterous as in the days of the famous Sicilian bandits who flourished sixteen years ago, but their modes of operation and the results of these are. precisely the same ; they capture big proprietors and rich townspeople, (sequestra they call it) and hold them in captivity in caves in the mountains until the sum of ransom which they demand is paid; besides which depredations in the way of robbery and cattle and horse-stealing are frequent in cases of the smaller owners and farmers, and these misdeeds are supplemented by a system of persecution and premeditated murder, sometimes accompanied with torture, among the lesser proprietors, small farmers, and peasants who are suspected of having- given, or even of being willing to give, information to the authorities respecting the perpetrators of these outrages. TUK SKC'UIiITY OK THE I'OUEKiXEIt. It is true, I believe, that foreigners travelling in Sicily who keep to the ordinary tracks and well-known routes have little to fear, but that is chiefly because their movements and the worth of their capture cannot be calculated on with such precision as in the case of a native, and because the robbers are clever enough to know that, the sequestration of a foreigner would be more dangerous to them than that of a native. Nevertheless, if they thought the capture of a rich foreigner was worth their while they would no doubt attempt it. I only know that I have never myself been in the mountainous districts of the Madonie without giving notice to the authorities, who have always, with great courtscv, insisted on sending four guards, generally mounted ones (" militi a cavallo"), to protect me, and giyen orders that they were never to let me out of their sight, and my protectors kept guard over me day and night. These "milito a cavallo" have, I believe, in consequence of the late increase of outrage, been dissolved, and their place supplied by carabineers ; they were, it is said, suspected of not being active enough in the pursuit of the " malandrini." AI'R.UD TO 1.1 YE ON THEIR ESTATES. It seems almost incredible that within four hours or five hours from Palermo there should be magnificent mountains, in part splendidly wooded with magnificent oaks and beeches, with spacious plains and picturesque valleys among them, where summer resorts, so much needed here in the fierce heat of summer, might be established, and yet these districts are quite uninhabitable for want of public security. The great proprietors in these districts are afraid to live on their estates, except surrounded by troops of " campieri," or private mounted guards. The proprietress of a magnificent range of forests in the mounted region has for the last few years ventured to inhabit an old castellated residence on her property, but this year, in consequence of the disturbed state of the district, she has not ventured up at all. WJIY IHIKiAMIAOK IS NOT EXTKItMINATED. After giving details of several brutal murders as described in the Sicilian newspapers —men, women, and children treacherously assassinated, or made prisoners, and killed with a slow death—Consul Stigand continues : In defence of the authorities to whom is committed the task of putting down such crimes, it must be allowed that the suppression of this marauding system is not easy, on many grounds. I n the first place, it is very difficult for them to obtain information of the movements and hiding places of the marauders for two reasons : first, the people who have no connection with brigands or brigandage live in such a state of terror of the marauders that they will give no news of their movements or whereabouts; and, secondly, there are a large mass of people called " manutengoli," who support the brigands by providing them with food and necessaries at an enormous price, and so virtually share in the brigandage. When I returned from Cefalu last year 30 of these " manutengoli" were conveyed in the same train with rae, bandcuffcd four and four together, and a villainous-looking set of men they were ; had been arrested, and were being conveyed to the prison at Termini. Of course a "manutengolo " is on the highway to become a brigand if he has not already been one. It is very difficult always, however, to convict any of the " manutengoli," as 011 the " omerta " principle nobody can be found to give evidence against them, and they

are often arrested mi -uspieion more or less justified. Tho traditions of brigandage, ton, Intro a great influence in perverting the sense of justice of the people, and in assisting to protect the brigands. I'.I.CIOMtOCN lis WANTKII. Bui, the eliiof obstacle to putting down brigandage consists in the difficult and mountainous character of the country. San Mauro, the headquarters of the brigands, is a town on top of a mountain 3000 ft. high, and in sight of Geraci Siculo, another town of about the same height, and if Pollina, also on tho summit of another mountain. The roads among- these mountains connecting the towns are mere mulo-paths, and mule-patlis traverse the mountains nil along the deep valleys and ravines. The mountains abound in eaves, known only to the brigands and shepherds of the mountains, and as the armed force sent in pursuit of the brigands are chiefly young men from Continental Italy, ignorant of the country and unable to spealc the language, their search after the brigands in their hiding places by unknown paths is a kopoless one, and if they do surprise the brigands at any time, as they sometimes do at a meal, the brigands are off at once among the rocks and woods, and treat their pursuers with scorn and defiance, generally sending behind them a few shots from time to time, and their first shot is a signal far tlie " carabinieri" to fire themselves, for tho " carabinieri" have orders not to fire until they have been fired upon. The only way to put down the mischief would be to employ a larger body ot men specially trained to tho work, and to make use of such dogs as they have in the convict settlements of Florida, dogs of the bloodhound breed, who would surely guide the police to the haunts of the brigands if once put on the scent.