The Situation in Australia
By G. C. Tenney
The Australian commonwealth has barely passed the first year of its career, ere it finds itself in the grasp of circumstances that try men's souls. Economy in either public or private life has never been carefully considered by the people, who have been accustomed to see money freely produced from rich mines and vast pastoral enterprises. The mother country has ever been very indulgent in the matter of lending her surplus capital to the young and aspiring colonies, until enormous debts have accumulated; and the habit of borrowing and expending freely is one hard to break off. But the day of trial seems to be coming on at least a portion of this country. The lack of water has always been the great drawback to the development of the interior regions of Australia. One very seldom sees in Australia such babbling brooks, gushing springs, and smiling lakes of fresh water as bless other lands. There are but few fresh-water rivers, and in dry times most of these become dry beds, or pools scarcely linked together by a driveling stream. Droughts are of such usual occurrence as to be almost normal. On the other hand, the soil is most productive. Every other condition for great prosperity prevails, so that when a season of reasonable moisture comes, the country responds bountifully, and prosperity at once lifts its head. If given an adequate supply of rain, Australia would become the garden of the world. For several years past there has been over the most of the country a deficient rainfall, and in some parts an entire absence of rain. I am told that in Queensland children are now going to school who have never seen a shower of rain, and it is probably true. Gradually this condition has been extending southward into New South Wales. Except for a narrow region along the coast, the country is mostly in the hands of squatters and pastoralists, who lease from the government large tracts of lands, on which they undertake to pasture vast flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. In prosperous years the business has yielded enormous returns. But in recent years many millions of sheep and cattle have died of thirst and starvation in Queensland. One may travel hundreds of miles without seeing a single blade or even a root of grass or herb. Several varieties of trees bear leaves on which cattle and horses will subsist, but these trees have been cut down. I have been the witness of some of these scenes of desolation. Around the edges of every water hole may be seen almost a rampart of bones. The weakened animals coming down to drink, having no strength to extricate their feet from the mud, lie down there and die. The dead and dying mingle with the bones of those that perished earlier. One constantly sees horses and cattle lying in a helpless, dying condition. Sometimes horses will lie for days unable to rise. They beat a cavity in the ground in their struggles, but no one comes to their relief. Often the crows pick the eyes out of animals yet alive. These scavengers and the pigs are the only beings that seem to thrive on this awful distress. Large piggeries are established, and animals that are about ready to die are driven into the enclosures, and left to the voracity of the swine. It is no unusual sight to see one or more pigs rush out of the frame of a decaying horse. These pigs are shipped to the cities for human food! Of the condition into which New South Wales is coming, a member of the government writes to a daily paper as follows:— The present drought is without parallel in the memory of any man in this state. In some parts it has continued now for five years without a break, and save in a very few districts, it is of many months' continuance, so that every reserve of dry grass, seed, or shrub on which stock may subsist is almost if not entirely gone. Where there may be any feed, there is no water. From Riverina to the Queensland border, from the western slopes to the far west, the drought holds undiminished and undisputed sway. I have traveled many of our inland districts recently, and I have met men from all parts, and there is the one story everywhere: Stock are dying off at an appalling rate, and the losses are being spoken of with fear, and with almost a desire for concealment. The outlook is the most serious that has ever faced the great pastoral industry of this state in my time, and the whole community will have to face for many years to come the dire effects of this terrible run of bad seasons, culminating in this the worst of all, in 1902. In a few weeks, too, we shall be face to face with famine prices for meat and food of every kind, and the winter is bound to see work scarce and food dear, a combination of circumstances that no community can face with complacency.
In order to “protect the industries” of the commonwealth, a heavy import duty was placed on all foods for man and beast. This now serves to increase the prevailing distress by greatly enhancing the price of food and fodder. The men are rushing into the cities, where work is scarce, and living is expensive. Sydney and Brisbane, the capitals15of the afflicted states, are plague-infected. Although the outbreak is not alarming, yet new cases are of daily occurrence, and the public mind is agitated as different portions of the cities are startled with the announcement of the dread disease among them. This is a troublous time and a serious outlook, especially to those whose vision does not extend beyond these regions of perplexity. We thank God that he has not left us in darkness as to the portent of these things. We are grateful to see, too, that many among the people see a significance in these events. Amidst it all, the work of the Lord goes forward, and we know that our redemption draws nigh.