Our Dunedin Letter.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 3030, 24 January 1899, Page 5

Our Dunedin Letter.

.:i ) v- ! ''DanediDj Monday morning ■■?■"■; A namber lot 7 ftkr ihers ; off the. Ttaierl ! ha^e 1 unjdergone an unpleaaant,*, though unfortana nrjt/altnjgetW^ Tie weather we have .' experienced of., late ha ) f>'been^ r unpVbpiticiuß"> ia\ the- extreme — '■ certa^l^nbtrsumn^erweSther—and and the !snrrpuh<iing i districts ■ have suffered accordingly. First of all the s settlers in* the Iffprthjßiast^Yallfy vial ted by 'a bailstorm .which, in point of severity, has never .been eqaaUed inthia- parfc of the world, at any rate^ The tbianderstbrm- burst oVer the galley about eight .p'olpok ; ; one , evening last week, and a furious shower of hail— or irajbher aB the. >r.es|denta 5 iin > the Valley de^oribod— lurni?f'orioß,-teli. The noiae on rhia roofs was deafening. In fact suoh was the exterit'of the dhiturbanoe that not a few ' p so i>le thopght some great > oatastrqphe was 'af hand, and becamegreatly alarmed. When .^heatbrm— whibtt was aooonopanied by sheet lightning —passed pver, some settlers found. ,*hat they had been ruined, green crops were jslmply obliterated, and fruit trebs looked aa ;bare aa if. they bad been struck, by a blight, and the fruit and leaves had suddenly fallen of them. Glass houses, and there are a good many oonservatbdeß In the Valley, were rednoed to akeletoti woodworks, and havoc was played with the tender plants. Strange to say, the people of Danedin knew nothing of this till they got up in the morning and •readlt in -the papers. On the night of thr 'storm we had sharp showers of rain-, but the only unusual feature of the weather waa thb brilliant fljabeß of UghtniDg. No hail fell at all. The Btorm In the V*Uey was oonfiaeo ,to a well-defined area, and in some gardens, the edge of, ii' is most diatiuotly traoeable through oartain gardens. Mr Glendiniag, of Rob's and : Glendiiing', was most fortunate. iFhe storm passed through his grounds, but jnsi missed hia extensive conservatories ; other wUe he would have been a very heavy loser. Last Monday we were viaited by another atmospheric disturbance — thia time in the shape of a tremendous downfall of rain, the North Bast Vciiley suffored. Id an hour the main thoroughfares were under water, and people who had left the place dry and dusty when they went to their work in the morning, were compelled to wade ankle deep when they stepped out of the tram cara to go to their homee. The creek that runs through the Valley overflowed its banks and spread across on to the main road. Some Chinese market gardeners had their cultivated ground wiped out, aad one of them w 8 at one tinm up to his waist in water in hia Btable. People had to remove their furniture and themselves from their houses, whilst of these, one man got out of hia house on the back of a horse. On the Taieri the full forest of the downpour wbb felt. The .SH v - e ritoeam - overflowed its banks, and aorea §&& Vacres of crops were ander water. Happ^iy the Taieri River did; not rise or the damage would have been irretrievable. Ab it was a great many farmers will lobb considerably. From Mosgiel road near the^atream bridge nearly to Kirkland, tbe water was aa high &a the top of crops and he'dgea, and the day after the rain it fl >wed on to prope^tiea whiob escaped when the .rain fell. I viaited the Taieri and inspected the damage the day after the -Btorm. I spoke to several of the farmarr, and they stated that it was one of the worst floods evor experienced. The crops in the Taierithia year were lookiog remarkably fioe, and Mr Walter Blackie ot Glasgow farm told me that amongst the cropa destroyed were some that were the finest oropß he had ever seen on the Taieri If the fl )od had not occurred the year would have been a moßt prosperous one. EDUCATION BOARD ELECTIONS. The ot-ming Education Board elections are now evoking some interest. Mesßra J. J. Ramsay, J. M. Gallaway, and P. B. Fraser are the retiring members of the Board, and are all atanding for reflection. Mr Borrie, erstwhile chairman, and one who geaerally allied himself to the Prydeites, will alao be a candid >te Measis Ramaay and Gallaway are pretty certain to be re-alected, as both have a large number of Bupporters, Who the third man will.be l don't Jike to predict, as the prophesying business, according to Mark Twain, is attended with a lot of risks. By the way, Mr Ramiay'a services as a oommeroial traveller, have been dispensed with by D*vid B*xter and J3o. Ab Mr Ramsay Was a popular and keen business man a reason la hard to conceive for his diaailsßal. Mrs Grnudy Baya h'B politioa did not sui*; Bond Btreet, especially now that rumor hath It that he will receive the Government support for Tuapeka next eleotion. His return for that electorate next election ia looked upon by many aa a very likely event. ÜBMOBAVDA, It Is stated that a ichoolmaster who has been innchly before the public in connection with a oertain dispute baa been charged by the inspectors with falsifying hia returns. What truth there is in the statement I can,nat say, but I would be inclined to think that the teacher In question is much too wide awake to do any. snob thing. I waa at the Balolutba flower show last week. The display of cabbages was Abac-bally-lutely (new adjective) great- Never saw such cabbages before Jo taost other respects, however Outram could give Balolutha points and beat it hands down. A young man Ib to bs charged at tbe court on Wednesday with committing an unnatural crime upon an anima'. It. appears that with, all our splendidly equipped silver -.gilfced abattoirs and brass bound inspectors,- we may be eating tuberculous meat after all. A man's oow was condemned the other day, but be managed to gat It. away and partly dress itbefore he was discovered. How many others, I wonder, who were not discovered. Fanciers in the Toko, district will ba intere ted -o lea,rn that the finest speoimenß of Noiwioh Creatar and "Lanoaßhfres ever seen in New Zealand have jaat been imported by Mr J. Karr of Dunedln. They dome from the premier breeders of England — the Norwioh from Mr Barrett of Pikenham, and the Lanoasbireß iron) Ms $, BAirrasa of Rooba>le,