WILD NIGHT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 173, 25 July 1939, Page 8

WILD NIGHT.

HOWLING GALE AND SNOW. HEAVY STOCK LOSSES. (By Telegraph—rross Asportation.) CHRISTCHURCH. this day. Heavy snowfalls on the coastal areas ofr the province followed a howling south-west gale which sprung up early yesterday afternoon and continued throughout the night and this morning. Hanks Peninsula had one of the wildest nights on record. On the more exposed faces up to 14 feet of snow lay in drifts. Tin's morning two feet of snow covered part of the main highway and transport services to Akaroa and the bays were disorganized. .Party telephone wires were down and heavy stock losses were reported by the few cars which managed to get into Akaroa. inland area* and North Canterbury did not experience such extreme conditions. There wero light snowfalls along the foothills. With a blizzard raging at Hilltop when the mail bus from Akaroa arrive 1 there nearly two hours late this morning, it was reported from Little Riwr that t lie trip would not be complete 1. and the bus would be left there until the storm abated, and the. road w.is cleared. So passengers were in the bin. In no time the parked vehicle, acting us n windbreak, was hidden from the hotel by a great heap of snow which had piled up on the leeward side. The Wairewa County Council's: grader, sent from Little River earlier this morning, had not been heard from at 12.10 p.m. to-day, and was reported to be blocked and snowed in. Four feet of snow lav on the Little Ktver «Mu of the highway. Union Airways service was also disrupted by the storm. Th f . north bound aeroplane did not leave Duncdiu this waTaXJS? th f 4 «°»M»-°ot.nd machine was delayed on Its run to Ohristelnirch but was only slightly behind schedule'