THE WEATHER.

Evening Post, Volume LVII, Issue 32, 8 February 1899, Page 6

THE WEATHER.

The short spell of sunshine this morning Avas a perfect luxury after the three days' spell of Avet wintry Aveather Aye have just so unseasonably experienced. It is soineAvhaf remarkable that after the unusual doAvnpour so little damage is reported. Save for the unfortunate collapse of the Karori tunnel, a feAV back-yard iioodings, and tAvo or three landslips, for the most part small and unimportant, there is nothing to record. Yet during the three days no less than 7.78 inches of rain fell. For the 24 hours ended 9 a.m. on Monday the fall was 3.53 inches, tho succeeding 24 hours produced a fall of .83 of an inch, and for the similar period ended 9 o'clock this morning 3.42 inches fell. A good-sized torrent coursed down Epuui, Aro, and Wordsworth streets into Upper Willis-street for the greater part of yesterday. The source Avas the Epnni-street culvert, which burst under the pressure of water coming down from the adjoining hills. The force of the swiftly-running flood tore up parts of the roadway and footpath, a huge lake formed in a low-lying part of Wordsworth-street, and gradually o\'erflowed into a number of cottages on the northern side. Residents in the locality and at MitchelltoAvn had to Avade through the lake on their Avay home yesterday. The road at one part was also under Avater this morning, Avhile the overflow from the broken culvert was running swiftly along the ordinary water channels on the roadside. At noon yesterday tho playground of the NewtoAvn school was in a state of high flood, so much so that the junior scholars had to be " pick-a-backed " on to the main road. The Avaters overfloAved from the ground into lower Meiu-streot, covering the rroad Avarj r fftveral inches. The Newtown school ground is one of the worst iv tho city in wet weather, and is by no means conducive to healthy exercise or " play " at a time when Elay is most necessary. Mr. J. P. Luke, hairman of the NeAvtoAvn School Committee, has again forcibly brought the matter under the notice of the Chairman of the PJducation Board. Some time ago the Committee urged that the Board should buy a site in the immediate vicinity and erect an up-to-date public school for tho 900 odd scholars located in the present school building. The Chairman of the Board promised to bring the matter before the Board, but up to the present no action seems to have been taken. The school building and site Avere, no doubt, originally suitable , but Avith the enormous traffic, both of tram and vehicles, it is positively dangerous to pour over 900 children into the street each day, and very soon something will have to be done. About 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon a bank of earth close to Mr. J. R. Gibbons's residence in Salamanca-road Avas dislodged through the bursting of a spring in the Botanical Gardens, and was carried doAvn the gully, to the detriment of his garden, and also that of his neighbour (Mr. Moncrieff). Several slips occurred on Salamancaroad yesterday afternoon. One of them Avas so large that it avos only Avith great difficulty vehicles were able to pass along the road. Yesterday morning a retaining wall near the Athletic Park collapsed Avith the Aveight of Avater behind it, and pushed fli similar structure beloAV it out of plumb. A high retaining wall erected by Mr. Black in front of his residence on M'Kenzieterrace, off Mount-street, has collapsed, and an immense quantity of debris has fallen on to a section beloAV. Although the Hutt River did not overfloAV sufficiently to reach Petone township, the loAv-lying portions of the borough were flooded to a considerable extent, a large quantity of water lying inside the stop bank, where the local rainfall is augmented by water from the hills by Avay of Percy's Creek, Avhich runs through a culvert in the I stop bank. This culvert, in the opinion of a large number of residents, is not nearly large enough to carry off storm water. The appearance of a large quantity of Avater lying inside 'the bank wnile the outside is comparatively dry, seems to Avarrant the conclusion. ' The rain yesterday afternoon flooded the prisoners' cells beneath the Supreme Court to such an extent that it became necessary to keep the pumping appliance going steadily last night and this morning. The water invaded all the cells except one., but it so happened that only one prisoner required lodgment to-day, and he Avas accommodated in the dry cell. To-day's telegraphic weather chart, indicating the condition of the Aveather at 9 o'clock this morning, shoAvs that at that hour it Avas either raining or threatening rain at almost all places from one end of the colony to the other. A large portion, probably most, of the season's grain crops Avere harvested before the ram set in, but there must also have been a considerable quantity damaged by the Avet Aveather, and the recently-published estimates of the Department of Agriculture may noAv prove someAvhat in excess of the actual yield. A heavy sea Avas experienced off Cape Campbell last evening, and also for some distance up both coasts of the North Island. The Aveather was cold in most parts, and at the Tophouse (Nelson), and on the Kaikouras snoAV fell. Even after three days' rain, and an odd shoAvev or tAvo this morning thrown in, the rising wind this afternoon sent clouds of dust sweeping along the main streets of the city, adding to the discomfort of those forced to be out* in the exceedingly cold Aveather.