SNOW AT LAST.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18456, 10 August 1925, Page 11

SNOW AT LAST.

WIND AND RAIN CONTINUE.

| A BITTER WEEK-END. The bitter weather of the past three days became even more bitter on the third day, until about 11 o'clock last night snow began to fall. At first the fla!ces were wet," driven in the wind to splash on the soaked streets and pavements. Soon, however, the ft-ind began to abate its fury, larger, softer flakes fell more gently, until by midnight the mantling whiteness was over everything. It was a rather slushy mantle, and the pavements were in the worst possible condition for the few unhappy wayfarers abroad. Throughout the day the wind had blown with pitiless rage, driving a hght .rain almost continuously. The h 0n Ot L O Oh 0V h 0 u Vind vas sharper than heavy 7 ' thC rain k ' ss

f - ho!id ». v was utterly boneless. All sports were off—llu^bv w??w£' ABsoei » tioa football, hockey—at TW- e ? c l e P[ 10n of one game, played fifJ™-i 1 '! et "; oen tsl e Canterbury B Union. th <janterbur y Sub-

I tz"i tbc i™ l »'°"S I tl,e course ZZi , ha , v ® been in excellent winter W bu ,V cannot now be in anything but a sodden state for the meeting. The Trotting Club has been even more unfortunate. The rain of Friday made the Addington track unfit for racing. a postponement until to-day was decided upon on Friday afternoon. That postponement was not such a very serious matter but when still more rain tell, a further postponement had to be made. The second postponement is serious, because the effect of it will be to extend the meeting into next week. ~ Complaints having been received at the City Council offico of the overflowing of channels, the City Engineer accompanied by the Drainage Board engineer, inspected several localities and will make a report to the Works Committee at its next meeting*

PUBLIC UTILITIES.

RAILWAY INTERRUPTIONS.

3" Train came through from Southbridge on Saturday morning, being piloted over doubtful portions of the track. Tho Christ,church-Southbridge train got through, without difficulty. The Traffic Manager at Christcliurch has teen advised that there has been a very heavy fall of snow between Cass and Arthur's Pas®, and it is necessary to pilot the train in that locality. The Railway Department officials stated last night that everything was practically normal again. A certain amount of congestion had been caused on the West Coast lino and that would have to be worked , down gradually. The Coast train was a little late in arriving in Christchurch on Saturday night, but tho delay was not due to the weather. The train was an exceptionally heavy one and was an-hour lata in leaving Arthur's Pass. The express from the south was also an exceptionally heavy train and was hauled by two engines. It reached Christchurch 40 minutes late.

: Telafchofies and Telegraphs. The engineer _in charge stated on Saturday that the poles and wires, between Christchurch and' Greymouth, west of Springfield and between Springfield and. Arthur's Pass, had ibeen levelled by the snow storm, and the lines to Coleridge> also were still down. Patrols were out endeavouring to get matters back to normal. Apart from that, none of the other important lines had been affected. A" number of subscribers in the Methven district had had their lines broken by snow. , A break occurred! in the line between Arthur's Pass andJ Springfield and gangs were sent out to remedy the trouble on Saturday. At 6 o'clock last night, one wire was restored to Greymouth.

WAHINE'S ROUGH PASSAGE.

The ferry steamer Waliine arrired at Lyttelton at 8.45 on Saturday morning, two hours behind hey usual time. She encountered a fierce southerly gale right from Wellington harbour on Friday night, with tremendous head seas and showers of sleet and hail. _ Her 500 passengers had a very unenjoyablo trip. The Wahino was to have docked on. Saturday morning for cleaning, .tnd painting, but her late arrival caused her to miss the tide and the docking was postponed. ' The Maori arrived at Lyttelton at 8.50 Yesterday, much sooner than expected under the conditions. She also had a very rough trip.

FARMER KILLED.

CARRIED* AWAY BY SLIP. A well-known, farmer, Mr J. W. Maekie, residing on the' bank of the Waimakariri River at- Kimberley, was letting away storm water close to the river on Friday last, when a slip occurred, taking Mr Mackie with it to the river below. _ A search party lias been at work since the accident, but so far has failed to locate the missing man. Much svmpathy is felt for his wife and family. Mr Mackie had always taken a live interest in the affairs of the Kimberley district.

IN THE COUNTRY. A good deal of snow has fallen on the high country in the C'ulverden district. ■ Heavy rain has fallen at Little River, and there have been minor slips on the roads. The Selwyn River, which was running high on Friday night, was reported to be going down on Saturday, but thcro were a number of washouts along the line. A gang has been out effecting repairs. • Difficulty was experienced by motorists on the road to Ashburton. On Friday evening the road at Lincoln was 2ft under water and at the 'Ellesmere bridge the Selwyn River was level with the bridgo flooring. This side of Dunscndel the water on the roads was over 3ft deep. The spring-like weather which has recently prevailed at Kowai Bush came to an abrupt ending on Friday morning. During Thursday night rain fell heavily but by daylight rain had given place to snow awl wind to a driving gale. By Saturday morning the weather was fine and several inches of frozen snow covered the ground. With the exception of a hard frost at Hanmer Springs on Tuesday morning, the spring-like conditions of a week or two before continued more or less until Thursday afternoon when a change set in followed by a steady rain in the night. The rain continued until

Fnday, changing to snow about 3 p.m., and at 7.1 o p.m., when there was a change back to rain, about 4j inches ot snow had fallen on the flats. Saturday morning was fine but doll and there was a lessened depth of sncrrr. Reports from the back country were not. through, but it is expected there would be a fairlv heavy fall there.

Eakaia. Die southerly storm which raged all day on Friday cleared during the nisjht and the weather on Saturday morning was dry, though 6till bleak and wintry. After midday rain began to fali once more, and continued in heavy showers during the afternoon and evening. The rainfall for the two days was -.03 inches.

! Springburn. | The spring-like weather experienced [at the beginning of the month was overtaken by_ wintry conditions early on Friday morning, when snow began to fall before a bitterly cold west wind. Later in the day the wind changed to south-west, and by night the snow was lying at a considerable depth. Pendarves. After more than a week of very pleasant weather, conditions changed on Thursday night, and a cold rain set in ironi the sou'-west. Steady rain has continued to fall, and the temperature has dropped. Lambs are fairly numerous in the district, and the unpleasant change will very hard on them. Much water is lying in the paddocks, so that team work will once more be at a standstill.

MID-CANTERBURY.

; ASHBURTON. The rain cased off during the early hours of Saturday and tho sun found its way through about 8 a.m. The sky soon after became cloudcd and a shower fell about 11 a.m. Daring the afternoon rain fell heavily and there was no sign of its abating lute on Saturday night. The flood waters have receded very considerably, but when at its worst the road at Win slow and Windermere was under water, while the flood was also' crossing the road in the vicinity of the Tinwald Kaleyards. As tiiis point several cars were held up. The culvert across Carter's Creek at Tinwald could not carry the stum water, and thq road there- was als<> submerged. On Saturday morning there was about ! four inches of snow lying at Methven, Mount iSomers. and Springburn. while it reached a depth of nine inches at Pudding Hill. The Ashburton river, at the traffic bridge only covered the shingle, but it will probably rise again as the snow thaws on the ranges. The roads in various parts of the county , have been scoured in places, but the storm did not last long enough to do any great damage. The Post and Telegraph Department experienced an endless amount of - trouble on Friday and Saturday, /but it was hoped to hare communication restored to-day. On Friday night there were only two telegraph circuits between Ashburton and Christchurch instead of ..six, but four were repaired on Saturday morning and the remaining two were in commission on Saturday afternoon. Most trouble was experienced at Methven and Springburn. There was less trouble at Hinds and Mayfield, although five poles on the AshburtonMayfield line were down at Vaietta. At this point temporary repairs were effected.

SOUTH CANTERBURY.

TIMARU. There was no improvement in the weather conditions on Saturday morning, and a bitterly cold southerly wind made conditions out of doors very bleak. At about 4 p.m. vain again commenced, and continued in scattered but heavy showors throughout the night. Yesterday was dull and cold, Saturday's southerly continuing, though with diminished force. Last night a change for the better appeared probable.

Waimate. A bitterly cold wind raged at Wraimate on Saturday. The hills have a light coating of snow.

MIDLAND LINE. (special to "the' press.'') GREYMOUTH, August 9. A. passenger b_v Saturday's overland express advises that the country was covered in a mantle of white from eastward of Racecourse Hill to Arthur's Pass, but nowhere was it deeper than a foot. Telegraph wires were hanging down broken at many points along the line, and it will be some days before communication is restored along this route. The express was not delayed a great deal, and . arrived in Greymouth half an hour late, as it was held up at Christcliurch for the ferry train. The time lost on the journey was inconsiderable. There was a wash-out at No. 10 tunnel, but the damage had been repaired. Several goods trains were held up at Arthur's Pass. A railway official stated that the aggregated tonnage affected was 2500. A mixed passenger and goods train reached Cass on Friday night from Greymouth, but it was obliged to return to Otira after midnight. An unfounded report that thero was a depth of two feet of snpw at Otira deterred many people from travelling on Saturday. As a matt'er of fact there was no-.snow at all at Otira. When the two expresses crossed at Arthur's Pass on Saturday a great deal of snowballing was indulged in by. passengers.

WAITAKI BELOW NOiiMAL

(press association telegram.)

OAMARU, August S. Rain her© lias beon light, with some snow in the back country. There is°no sign of floods, the Waitaki being below normal.

DOWNPOUR IN DUNEDIN. (pur.3s ASSOCIATION telegram.) DUNEDIN, August 8. Outdoor Sporte havo been postponed on account of Tain. , r . , 'After heavy ram tho Outram-Jlosgiel service was interrupted yesterday afternoon. Nineteen inches of water was on the railway at ono section.