SATURDAY'S GALE.

Feilding Star, Volume II, Issue 528, 23 March 1908, Page 4

SATURDAY'S GALE.

TEMPESTUOUS WEATHER AT SEA. STEAMERS HAVE STORMY PASSAGES. ROTOMAHANA'S ROUGH TRIP. RECORD RAuTaT ASHBURTON. [Ml VBBW 4MQOTATION.] Wellington, March 22. The bad weather which had been experienced for several days seemed to reach its height yesterday. The wind blew with, hurricane force and it rained the whole day. No damage is reported in the city or suburbs and the railway services were not interfered with. Not so, however, with the shipping. The Rotomahana, which left Lyttel- ■ ton at 6.10 p.m. on Friday and was thus due about 6 a.m. yesterday, did i not put in an appearance till 9 p.m. I When off Kaikoura the wind began j to freshen, and by the time the vessel was passing Cape Campbell a hard southerly was blowing. About 4 a.m. the Rotomahana was near Wellington Heads, but being unable to pick up the light she turned south and steamed slowly till the weather improved somewhat. When at half speed she made three knots an hour against the gale and eleven knots with the gale. The Maitai was two days .late in arriving from Sydney, which port she left on Monday. A heavy southerly gale commenced, on Tuesday evening and continued until Cape Farewell was sighted on Friday afternoon. She passed Cape Farewell at 4 p.m. and then ran into suck a heavy southerly with high seas and thick rainy weather that she was hove to from 10 p.nr. on Friday till 10 a.m. to-day, when the weather moderated and the Maitai steamed into the harbour at noon. The coastal steamer Kahu arrived from Napier at 2.15, 'having taken 85 hours on a trip which usually occupies 24 hours. She left Napier on Wednesday night and except for an interval of twelve hous, sheltering at Castlepoint, had been battling with the elements until 2 o'clock on Saturday. Her position at the heads was serious. The sea, according to Captain Thompson, was: tremendous. The weather was thick and the coal bunkers of the vessel at a low level. There was not enough fuel to take the vessel through the Straits, and Captain Thompson had great difficulty in making port. Perhaps the (toughest experience was that of the little steamer Tasman. She left Nelson for Wellington at 4 a.m. on Saturday and when a few miles from Cape Terawhiti shipped a heavy sea, which washed clean over the bridge into the engine room and into the saloon and badly started the bulkhead under the bridge opening, the deck seams carrying away the bridge, deck ladders, and the hatch over the forehold. Captain Cox decided to put back, and ran into Oyster Bay, where he conferred with the captain of the Charles Edward. Captain Cox then took the Tasman to Picton and had the deck temporarily recaulked. She ran across to Wellington this morning. During the trip from Picton a heavy | sea smashed in a port in the forecastle and seas went over the vessel and again into the engine room, the vessel having to be stopped to enable the broken port to be blocked. Owing to the rain yesterday the Miramar pony races and all other outdoor sports were postponed. Ashburton, March. 22. Rain, which commenced on Wednesday evening has, with the exception of a short respite on Thursday, continued practically uninterruptedly since. I The total fall from 4 p.m. on Wed- ' nesday till 4 o'clock this afternoon 1 was 2.80 inches, while indications ! point to its continuance throughout the night at least. The total rainfall since the beginning of the month has been *^.96 inches, which is the heaviest fall over ■ the same period recorded *ibr over two years.