CROPS REFRESHED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 301, 20 December 1943, Page 4

CROPS REFRESHED

WELCOME RAINFALL

DAM LEVELS RISE SLIGHTLY

Light rain in Auckland and over surrounding areas during the weekend was welcome, and greatly refreshed crops and pastures. There were light showers on Saturday night.. Yesterday morning the sky was overcast. Towards noon light rain started, and it continued practically throughout the day and night. The recorded fall in Auckland for the 24 hours' period, ending at 9 o'clock this morning, was .49 inches, making a total of 1.50 inches for the month to date. There has been rain on eight days. The rain followed a fairly long period of dry weather, and some exceptionally hot days. In Auckland, gardens and lawns had a parched appearance, and growth of vegetables had, to a great extent, been checked. For several weeks past garden hoses had been in general use. In counti-y districts, advantage had been taken of the dry spell to get hay crops in, and as assistance had been given by territorial labour, many farmers ' had - made good progress with their harvest. Where hay is still in the field it will now have to be dried. During last week there was scattered raiM, and some of it was heavy. East Friday evening a thunderstorm passed over the Waitakere Ranges, and for a time the rainfall there was heavy. There has been a heavy demand on the Auckland water supply, the average daily draw-off from storage being approximately 10,000,000 gallons in the past week. Auckland City Council officials said 'to-day that the rain had been very patchy on the ranges. There was enough to lift the level of the Nihotupu dam, but the Huia and Waitakere dams just about held their levels.