The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-04
The Drought I'm Australia

Inc Drought In hustraIia.
While the trade unions, which are po-
litically dominant in Australia, have
been engaged in the Atlantean task Of
keeping up wages artificialy, the graz
ing industry, which is the backbone Of
the country, has been passing through
a period of great depression, caused by
q drought of exceptional severity and
duration. Much light is thrown by a
recent letter 10 the London Times on the
local conditions which render the bust
ness of an Australian grazier peculiarly
speculative and hazardous.
The fundamental fact to be noted il
that Australia, apart from the tropical
area, is naturally divided into three di-
visions coasts. the table lands and
the interior. The value Of each geo.
graphical zone depends exclusively on
the rainfall. The coast it seems, has a
rainfall of about Al inches the table land
about SO inches, while. as one proceeds
westward from Sydney into the Interior
the rainfall decreases in proportion to
the distance from the ocean. until west
OF the Darling River, there is a great
tract of country which has an average
rainfall of less than 10 inches, and in
some parts of Australia the rainfall is
only inches a year. So useless are the
aforementioned sections for grazing
purposes that it is pronounced ques-
tionable by local experts whether the
interior districts Of Australia should be
regarded as an asset or liability Even
before this years drought the western
graziers of New South Wales found it
difficult, if not impossible. to make both
ends meet. In order 10 secure his land
by purchase, the average grazier had TO
spend IS an acre in cash and s. more an
acre in improvements for land, two
acres Of which are needed TO feed a single
sheep, Thus, if he was operating on
borrowed money, which is often. il
not usually, the case. he would have to
pay interest on $50 in order to maintain
one sheep. As a sheep will not earn
interest on $50 at the present prices Of
wool, the western graziers of Australia
naturally sank deeper and deeper into
debt, and now that they have been ex-
posed to prolonged period of drought,
they find themselves in a desperate po-
sition.
To appreciate the effects Of drought
in the western sections of New South
Wales, we should bear in mind that the
large stations or grazing farms. in
those regions depend for their water
mostly on artificial supplies, the few natu-
raj water courses and creeks commonly
going dry at least once every year. TO
secure water for the stock, big reser-
voirs, called tanks, are dug, holding
millions of gallons, and dams are put
across the shallow waterways; in some
places artesian wells are sunk. Even if
the water supply thus provided should
hold out, the want of grass experienced
in time of drought soon begins to kill
the stock. The loss takes place in the
following way: the sheep and the cattle
are turned loose all the year round in
large paddocks, some Of these being five
miles square. The sheep coming down
to water eat off the grass and herbag &c
growing anywhere near il, and. a the
drought progresses, they eat every
green thing anywhere within three or
four miles Of the water. They get
weaker and weaker, until, even though
there may be little grass lef, in out
lying corners of their paddocks, they
have not strength enough to tramp out
after il, but hang round the water and
there starvc to death IF the drought
is prolonged, the plain is dried and trod-
den to bare desert; the winds pick IN
the dust and blow il across country,
sometimes for miles; fences and home
steads are gradually buried in the drifted
dust. In some great windstorms nocks
OF sheep have been overwhe lined; graz
iers in the central district of New South
Wales report that at times it has seemed
as II the whole west was being blown
over upon them. Some stations in touch
with a railway have sent thousands of
sheep away by train to save their lives,
but the expense is ruinous Where sta
tions are at n distance from any railway
II is impractcable to shift the stock. be-
cause they arc too weak to walk So il
comes to pass that as a rule, the grazicr
can do nothing but sit and watch his
sheep dying before his eyes.
II the effect Of protracted drought
is TO cripple grievously the big squat
ter who controls large area and has
a good deal Of capital behind him, 1t
SPELLS catastrophe for the small farmer
who at IN" outset of a drought has but
few hundred sheep, and has been
accustomed To live from hand TO mouth.
The drought soon kills on his stock, and