A HOT TIME.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 120, 13 February 1908, Page 4

A HOT TIME.

■'-."■v. ■~-r'~4-r—-— .. INTENSE HEAT IN MELBOURNE. Wellington, with its frank,freo northerlies, and its cool .Souttfcrliea; knows, nothing of excossivo heat. If the morcury rises 'above 75 dog. >Fah'., ,; the 'good folk;' begin to igrumble, but .heat as .it has. been suffered ill Melbourno during the past few weeks' is unknown in tho Dominion, bo it'thankfully said. Those who have been through it refer to the time as one would speak of an illness or a serious earthquake, and one Wellington , gentleman < who returned '. from : Melbourne yesterday informed a Dominion representative, that he would not visit. Melbourne in-January : again'for £1000: : It was so hot, says our authority, that the people could not sleep on tho top floors of the liotols, and to make matters: worse it was impossible to leave the bedroom window open at night because, of the northerly wind which swept the city'like a blast from a furnace, i From about January 8 to January 20 the'thermometer ranged from 103 toll 3 deg. ilr the shade. It'had been as hot for a day or two before,, but not since tho 'sixties had there been so continuous a spell—it was tho accumulated heat that proved so dreadful, so fatal, in : the city. The cemetery authorities had to ongage seventeen extra sextons to -dig graves, so heavy was the mortality list, and heat apoplexy developed into an epidemic. A Wellington lady and gentleman, thought they would be able to got a breath W air by taking a tram rido on the front seat, but' so scorching was the • blast that, they were forced to, get inside tho car to avoid tbo scaring wind. ;• The newspapers announced that people would be allowed to sloop -in the public parks, and -that the polico would protect them, and hundreds availed themselves ■ of the opportunity to gasp in the open instead of within dogrs.. . A returned Wellingtonian said that He visited tho Brighton and South Melbourno beaches early one morning in search of a cool spot, and saw some thousands of people lying out .upon tho beach endeavouring to got a' little sleep.' Tho children ■ Bu(fered i most severely. " I saw one woman in a side ..street," said our. informant, " bathing her baby's head with' water under a verandah as the poor Jittlo thing gasped for breath, and I wondored how tho poor were faring when otheis who could aft'onl' to ; stay at a good, hotel 'wcro .suffering. It must have, been terrible for them all. Some of the warehouses practically suspended business; the schools closed up. The theatres wore deserted.. Melbourne will loiig, remember" tho terriblo Jaumcv she lias inst nassed t'lrooab ■