ENGLAND STILL SNOW-BOUND.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19198, 3 January 1928, Page 11

ENGLAND STILL SNOW-BOUND.

FOOD PRICES RISE.

AEROPLANES CARRY PROVISIONS.

<>T CABLE—PB2SS ASSOCIATION—COFVBIGHT.t A-JSTEAUAX AND N\Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION.)

(Received January 2nd, 5.5 p.m.')

LONDON, December 31

All England has been snow and frost bound for the longest period this centurv.

A new development, which waa not expected, is that food prices are rising. Big increases occurred in Covent Garden, where vegetables were very scarce. Farmers generally are unable to gather them, and where they can be gathered they cannot be got to the market except at extraordinary cost. For instance, Brussels sprouts, which were fourpenec a pound before Christmas, are now a shilling a pound when obtainable. Coal is also becoming dearer, merchants having difficulty in obtaining supplies owing to the state of the roads and railways.

The river Stour, in Kent ; is frozen, and waterways and docks in Richborough have been turned into icefields. A motor-car dug out of snowdrifts in Llanfrechfa after great efforts, proved to be a stolen car for which the police had searched for two days.

Six aeroplanes have left London carrying provisions for the various beleaguered villages in Surrey, Kent, and Somerset.

People in isolated houses have been told by wireless to mark out a circle on the snow with dark clothes if food is needed, when it will be dropped by parachute.

BIG SKATING CARNIVAL 5000 PEOPLE ON THE ICE. (AUSTHALUS AND V.7.. CABLI AS3OCIATIOS.} (Received January 2nd, 7 p.m.) LONDON, January 2. The greatest skating carnival held for many years was held at Lingayfen, Cambridge, where there were 5000 people on the ice. Skaters competed for the amateur championship and tho King's Cup, the weather for the first time since 1912 permitting the competition to be held. Dix, or fiaunds, the holder, aged fatty, wno first won the championship thirty-thiee years ago, lost to Horn, of Dpwell, aged twenty-two. > Twenty degrees of frost during tho night made the ioe safe for the multitude, and there was a great demand on the open-air buffet for hot drinks, the skaters' own supplies having become frozen in bottles. Bookmakers shouted the odds on the 27 competitors, who skated in heats. Gir sin plus fours, with brightly coloured jumpers, introduced a carnival spirit which was increased bv the carrying of balloons. Hundreds of skaters paced the competitors. . The Prince of Wales, who was spentlino- the week-end at Melton Mowbray, bought a pair of skates yesterday and at noon joined the throng of skaters on the lake in Stapleford Park proving himself quite an expert on the ice. Several aeroplanes yesterday delivered food to villagers and others who were prevented from obtaining it by fog. '

THAW BEGINS. FLOODS FEARED. (AUSTRALIAN AKD N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION.) (Received January 2nd, 8.45 p.m.) LONDON, January 1. A general thaw has set in throughout England after the country has been snowbound for a week. Experts are unable to say when the deepest drifts will melt. It may no* be for weeks. Many homes are in danger of destruction owing to the movement ot tons of snow. Up to to-night numerous villages were still cut off. Ski-ing parties visited one or two hamlets m Kent and found the inhabitants on the verge of starvation. Tears came into their eyes when they received releif and provisions. \ It is feared that serious floods win result in some districts, as the rivers are dangerously swollen. AMERICA SUFFERS. HEAVY SNOWSTORM IN THE NORTH. (AUSTRALIAN AKD K.B CiBLB ASSOCIATION.) (Received January 2nd, 7 p.m.) NEW YORK, December 31. From the Rocky Mountains to Chicago the country is gripped in a heavy snowstorm and cold wave, which at Calgary registered 33 degrees below zero at Duluth, 32 degrees below, and at St. Paul 14 degrees below. Four people are dead in Chicago and several deaths are reported from Indiana, lowa, Minnesota, and adjoining States, due to freezing. One person was kil ed and several injured in train collisions during the snowstorms. , . The official weather toreeast indicates that even the western coast will be subjected to a protracted cold spell, with freezing temperatures in Washington and Oregon, and unusual cold m California accompanied by rains. The Canadian North West is expected, as usual, to be subject to the lowest temperatures, while even the Gulf States, through to north-west Honda, will suffer more or less. The weather in New lork is now mild but a rising wind is blowing and the forecast indicates that zero temperatures will be reached within a fewhours, with heavy snowstorms. Several collisions occurred m Now York harbour, amongst which was one between the liner President Hayes and the freighter Taranti.

(deceived January 2nd, 7.30 p.m.) >'EW YORK.. December 31. ;rive passenger steamers and fifteen hie freighters are fog-bound here, ami unless the fog clears soon a score t; ffltion.l shfps expected will be an, „ble <o enter the harbour. Only one freighter has managed to enter during the last twentv-four hours, and none was able to leave. The Mauretama and the Leviathan are unable to proceed rm their journeys, and traffic generally is badly disrupted.