BREAKING OF THE DROUGHT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 3777, 12 March 1913, Page 5

BREAKING OF THE DROUGHT.

WELCOAIE RAINS SET IN

FALL GENERAL ABOUT THE DISTRICT.

The rain which has promised for the past two or three days set in in earnest early last evening, when a warm, steady drizzle of the kind best calculated to make glad the heart of the farmer _ turned the .execrable streets of Gisborne into slushy mudpuddles and definitely settled the question as to whether the services of the Borough water cart will be required this morning.

Telephone advices from the Coast and inland as far as Motu go to show that the fall is general, and it is pafticularly welcomed in the Coast districts, where the grass has long turned brown and graziers and sheep farmers have been pondering the question o fwinter feed. It- is felt that the rain is not too late to do all that is. required before winter sets in, and, given that it lasts a few days and is followed by a short warm spell, there is every reason to predict most happy results in plaoe of the ruin which farmers last week declared threatened them on every hand. In many districts, too, stock have been, hard-pressed for water, many creeks hitherto regarded as permanent having dried up as a resulijjf the drought, and in addition water' has had to be carried for weeks past for household purposes in many places. Round about the town dairy farmers have sustained heavy loss, in many instances their_ cows having completely gone off milk, while in the town itself the lawns and gardens presented a dry and withered appearance ; all this will, it is hoped, be now changed. Inland in the Alotu district the drought has not been so severe as nearer the coast, the inland districts, particularly on the other side of . the Alotu watershed, having received much better rains than their coastal neighbors. At the time of going to press the rain showed every .sign of continuing indefinitely.