THE HEAT WAVE.

Evening Star, Issue 9911, 24 January 1896, Page 2

THE HEAT WAVE.

ALARMING MORTALITY.

[Per Prbßß Association.)

SYDNEY, Januaßy 23.

In view of the alarming mortality owing to the heat, the Board of Health wired instructions to all towns where the thermometer is 100 and over how to treat cases and to prevent sunstroke. To-day the - country records are : Nyangee, 121deg; Wilcannia, 120.5; Brewarrina, 119 ; Broken Hill and Bourke, 115 ; Wagga, 116.5. Ten deaths were recorded in the Mount Brown district, five at Brewarrina, and three at Broken Hill.

Many isolated cases are recorded, especially in the case of children. MELBOURNE, January 23.

To-day has been the hottest day in-the city for years. The thermometer registered 108deg in the shade, and at the observatory 112. To-night in the city there was a blinding dust storm, but later in the evening it was followed by rain, which cooled the atmosphere. THE EFFECTS OF THE GREAT HEAT. Writing on Monday, January 13, the liourke correspondent of a Melbourne paper says:—The average heat since the beginning of the year is 109deg, and for the past week it has been 113deg in the shade, the heat to-day being a point higher. Such unprecedented heat has hastened or directly caused the death of no fewer than ten persons, some of which were frightfully sudden. Thomas Harkham, a jockey, was found dead at Multagoona yesterday, and is supposed to have perished from heat and want of water. J as. Proctor, a well-known identity, became suddenly ill this morning, and expired on admission to the hospital. \ Joseph Danbine,. a homestead lessee, on Sunday took ill, and died in three-quarters of an hour, a medical examination showing that his decease was directly attributable to fatty degeneration of the heart, accelerated by the heat. D. C. M'Dougall, caretaker of the Government farm at Pera, yesterday left Bourke for Pera perfectly well. On reaching home he laid down in a room constructed of galvanised iron, and shortly afterwards staggered out and fell dead from heat apoplexy. George Moore, a coachdriver between here and Wanaaring, was found dead in his bathroom, death being due to the heat.