Summer Was Driest For Decades

Not since 1925—26 had Gisborne experienced so dry a summer. From September 1 to April 30, only 11½ inches of rain fell. In the same time, the sun shone for just on 1500 hours. In a year noted for severe flooding elsewhere, happy visitors came to look on Gisborne as the home of the sun.

But to farmers in the country districts, each day's rising sun was an omen of disaster. Old-timers remembered only too well how in 1926 the paddocks of East Coast farms were littered with the bodies of dying animals, starved to death on the bare pastures. It was estimated that 15,000 head of cattle died, and as many again were put through the works for their hides and manure value, then about 15/-a head.

This year, most farmers do not consider things will be as bad as that. There are many factors to improve the situation. Transport facilities are better, so that stock can be moved faster and easier. Already thousands of head of cattle have been sold to buyers elsewhere in the country where feed is more plentiful. Irrigation had helped in some cases. More is known about artificial feeding. And this month the drought was broken by heavy rain which, depending on the weather to come, may help depleted herds through the winter.

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In haze of dust, cattle from Matawhero begin trek to greener pastures

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Reduced to a trickle: the district's big river, the Waipaoa, before this month's rain fell.