'The Birmingham Daily Post states, on the authority of firms
in that town, that the drought in New Zealand is assuming the proportions of a calamity. It has lasted six months, it is ruin- ing the flock-masters, and trade of every description is said to be at a stand-still. Messages are telegraphed from the colony to suspend the execution of all orders, and as hardware is one of the staples in demand, the messages are severely felt in Birmingham. The Post acknowledges the almost entire absence of allusion to the drought in English journals, but says private letters and telegrams leave no doubt, and talks of an injury to the colony "which it may take years to repair." There is possibly unconscious exaggeration in this account. In a country like New Zealand, a drought of six months would destroy the pasturage of the whole colony, and kill out its principal source of -prosperity. Let us hope the want of water, at least in the extreme degree, is confined to some one province.
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