CAPRICIOUS VISITOR

Evening Star, Issue 22686, 28 June 1937, Page 12

CAPRICIOUS VISITOR

JACK FROST'S PRANKS PLUMBERS REAP HARVEST Jack Frost donned his heaviest coat and_ descended on Dunedin in his most mischievous mood last night. Everything he touched turned not to gold (according to romantic fable) but to solid blocks of ice. It was the heaviest visitation in years here—lSJdeg. in all. Housewives wrung their hands in dismay as they took frozen contents of milk bottles and receptacles from the ' back door; plumbers rubbed their hands with glee as appealing telephone messages for their services poured into their offices. Many a split pipe was replaced, but many more were still damaged this afternoon, and are likely to be for some time till the frantically busy plumber (replete with all his tools) can effect the repairs. I More of Jack Frost’s tricks were to freeze the water in motor car radiators—at least one owner will have to replace his—cause hill dwellers to slip on footpaths as treacherous as a greasy pole, and make the process of car washing impossible. In this latter case, a garage employee commenced to wash a vehicle at 8 o’clock this morning, but as soon 'as the water touched the bodywork it froze there to his amazed consternation. It takes more than severe atmospheric conditions to postpone the weekly domestic ritual of washing, but to-day there must have heen_ hundreds of empty coppers in Dunedin homes. But perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. Water mains were too snugly embedded in the ground for Jack to reach them with his icy finger, and the Corporation employees did not share in the surfeit of work falling to the plumbing fraternity.