LOSSES FEARED IN COUNTRY

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24619, 16 July 1945, Page 4

LOSSES FEARED IN COUNTRY

FEEDING OF STOCK . DIFFICULT PENINSULA ESCAPES LIGHTLY Although no wide survey of the ef-‘ fects of the snowstorm in rural Canterbury could be obtained yesterday, district communications being disrupted even from the few telephone exchanges opened, serious loss is expected. Damage was general and heavy as a result of Friday's nor’westerly gale, trees being blown down everywhere, and in one district at least yesterday doubts whether farmers were able to reach their sheep to feed them were expressed. The season is too early for lambing to be general in Canterbury, but farmers who had early lambs were expected to be heavy losers. A »eport was received in Amberley yesterday that one farmer had lost 40 lambs. Banks Peninsula escaped comparatively lightly on this occasion. Only two inches of snow fell on the waterfront at Akaroa. The fall on the surrounding hills was about one foot, with heavier drifts on some of the roads. Although the main road was passable, the mail car could not make the trip to Little Akaloa or Okain’s Bay, the road being blocked by Snow. Many telephone lines were out of order and the Peninsula was without power, except at Akaroa, where the plant of the Banks Peninsula Power Board was in operation. The thaw was substantial on Saturday and heavy rain accompanied the hard sou'-westerly blow during Saturday night. At Little River No damage was reported at Little River, where the storm was less severe than in Christchurch. A fall of six inches was recorded in the township, but the fall was not so much heavier to cause any concern for stock on the hills. A bulldozer and a grader cleared the highway on Saturday morning, the depth not being more than a foot, and most of the snow had cleared by yesterday afternoon. The district, however, was still without electric power. The residents were using kerosene lamps. They had a feeling of isolation. however, because they could not receive any news from Christchurch or other centres. The snow at Darfield was about 24 inches in depth, but there were no drifts of the depths recorded in the storm of two years ago. After the terrific gale on Friday, when trees were blown down over a wide area, the power supply was dislocated shortly after midnight, bringing the R.S.A. bail to an early conclusion, and the district has been without power since. One of the few suitable tractors in the district, owned by Mr W. W, Mulholland (president of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union), was taken by his sons to Darfield and used for the delivery of meat to settlers. Difficulty by farmers in reaching their sheep with hay for food was reported. The heaviest drift of snow recorded yesterday was at Oust, where the snow, blown on to the foot of the hills, was five feet deep in places. Eighteen inches to two feet of snow fell at Ha warden, but a thaw set in yesterday, when the weather was sunny. The rapid sequence of gale and snow made the storm worse at Waikari than the 1918 storm, according to reports. Snow was lying to a depth of 21 inches in the township. Fallen trees were j numerous, and telephone wires were down all over the district, although communication with Christchurch was re-established late on Saturday night Graders cleared the roads, but they were slippery, and on Saturday one bus which was towed up the hill at Waikari could not continue its trip to Hanmer,