THE COLD SNAP.

Evening Star, Issue 11943, 20 July 1903, Page 5

THE COLD SNAP.

At Benmore Station (WaitaM) on Friaay there was four feet of | snow on the flat, and :t was thought impossible to save the sheep, the efforts of the. station hands at Kurow being directed to succoring the horses and cattle.

Several rabbi ters camped on the hills behind Kurow had a trying experience in a journey from their camp to Kurow. It took them nine hours to negotiate seven miles through the snow, and our informant says they w«re "dead baked" when.they reach d tbeir destination. Twelve benmore rabbiters managed to get through to Kurow froni that station on Friday, but they had to push through snow sometimes up to their chests. An Upper Waitaki runholder, in a letter received in Oamaru, says there are between 18in and 2ft of mow on his run, and if a thaw does not take place within ten days of the snowstorm the mortality amongst the sheep will be very heavy.— 'North Otago Times.' From Mr John Roberts we learn that the weather in the neighborhood of Gladbrook Station last week was exceptionally severe. On Friday, though the sun was fairly warm, the station hands might be seen with their beards frozen, whi.e the intensity of the cold at the homestead had forced the corks out of several of the bottles in the kitchen, and their liquid contents had been congealed in pyramidical fashion to a height of several 'niches. On the surrounding vegetation the effect was quite striking, the spikes of the pinus ineignis being crystallised, while the telegraph wires were coated with frost to a thickness of a couple of inches. The snow which lay to a depth of twelve inches on the 12tb had bt*n reduced to five inches by Saturday morning, with every prospect of speedy disappearance. In the paddocks at Gladbrook the stock are being fed on dry fodder. The» following are comparative readings of the thermometer at Gladbrook during the cold snaps of 1899 and 1903:

July, 1899. Max. Min. 22nd _ 17|ri}ia» ■»•»::: ;:; :;; ally 25ih 14' 5' 2Kt (below zero HJdegl ... 31' 'HI 27th n28th 47* 44' July, 1901 Mas. Min. llth)12iti enow and liu\ ]2'h/ rain... „ ... / 38" 2213th _ 37' 25]4th 3S* 2315th 9' 616th (hclow zero fide?) ... 22' •6 17th (' eliw zero i:M*g) ... 17•13 18th (below zero 7iles) 24' •7