INCH AN HOUR.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 45, 22 February 1929, Page 7

INCH AN HOUR.

RECORD SNOWFALL.

New York Enveloped In Mantle

Of White.

DANUBE ICE BOMBED,

(Australian and N.Z. Press Association.) (Received 9.30 a.m.) NEW YORK, February 21. New York is buried under the heaviest snowstorm the city has experienced for several years and which promises ultimately to break all records. Snow began falling shortly before four this morning and there were over live inches on the ground by tun. The snow still continuing to full at the rate of an inch every hour. The city authorities put 15,000 snow shovellers on the streets, also 100 railway ploughs and 2000 trucks, besides street brushes and scrapers. Vessels in the harbour had to slacken speed and five liners, due early this morning, have been held up at sea by the storm. A London cable states that the Munich correspondent of the "Times"' reports that bombs were dropped from aeroplanes on to the ice on the Danube in Germany, between Nassau and Regensburg.

An artillery corps then shelled the ice with howitzers, and firemen poured kerosene on it and lit the oil, but all in vain.

The authorities are anxious to liberate shipping and prevent floods. They have now decided to call up icebreakers. These vessels have never before been used in South Germany. The ground is so hard at Stuttgart that the digging of graves is impossible. The cemetery authorities have, therefore, requested the relatives of deceased persons to adopt cremation. A telegram from Cairo says the mo*t extraordinary feature of the cold weather in Egypt is that a desert oasis at Siwa, 340 miles to the south-west, is reported to be frozen.

TEMPERATURES RISE

Mass Of Ice Crashes On Cage At Colliery. TWO KILLED, THREE INJURED. (Australian and !s'.Z. Press Association.) (Received 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, February 21. After ten days of icy conditions Londoners to-day revelled in a temperature of 70 degrees in the sun, but to thousands it meant extreme discomfiture. The thawing of frozen pipes revealed hitherto undetected bursts which flooded houses.

That was also responsible for a mass of ice crashing down upon an ascending cage at the Bestowwd Colliery, Nottingham, crushing the roof, killing two and injuring three miners.

At Athens a frost following on the floods has converted 150,000 acres near the Turkish border into a polar waste. Many human beings and cattle were drowned. Seven villages were overwhelmed and others are beneath 35 feet of snow. Airplanes are dropping food.

BACK TO NORMAL.

Thaw Sets In Over British Isles. SKATING AT PALACE. (British Official Wireless.) (Received 12 noon.) RUGBY, February 21. In London only one degree of frost was registered during the night, with more in the suburbs and over most of the country. London's temperature rose this morning well above freezing point, although frost continues in the Lincolnshire feus, >.orth England and Scotland.

The great frost, which had lasted ten days without a break, had gone by midday and the temperature had jumped to 45 degrees Fahrenheit, which is normal for late February and two hours later it was 48.

A general change to milder weather is stated to be in progress, though slight night frosts may continue.

As a result of the thaw countless waterpipes, which were frozen, have burst and the plumber is the most-sought-after personage to-day. Skating is still in progress.

During the cold wave excellent skating has been enjoyed on the lake in the Buckingham Palace grounds by the Prince of Wales and his brothers. The Prince of Wales was on the ice again to-dav. c

INFLUENZA AT HOME.

Death Roll Increases In Past

Week.

AGED PEOPLE SUCCUMB,

(Australian and N.Z. P'ess Association.) (Received 1.30 p.m.)

LONDON, February 21

The influenza death roll in England reached 1243 last week, as compared with 967 the previous week. A greal majority of the victims are aged over 60. The present epidemic threatens i:o rank with the outbreaks of 1918 and 1922. Doctors and nurses are overwhelmed with work.

The Medical Research Council's investigations on the disease are limited by the short duration and the serious incidence of the attacks. Nine judges are at present in bed.

ETERNAL FLAME.

EXTINGUISHED BY FROST. (United Service.) (Received 12 noon.) PARIS, February 21. Frost extinguished the Eternal Flame of Remembrance at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.