MORE SUDDEN CHANGES IN N.S.W. WEATHER

Grey River Argus, 29 October 1948, Page 6

MORE SUDDEN CHANGES IN N.S.W. WEATHER

SYDNEY, Oct. 28

A cool southerly change reached Sydney at 2.35 a.m. to-day. It broke the heat wave and lowered the temperature 12 degrees in five minutes. Light rain commenced falling shortly after dawn. All the bush fires are now under control. The losses include the destruction of the small village of Termed, 12 miles from Ulladulla, where a sawmill and five homes were burned to the ground. Some centres in New South Wales had temperatures of 100 degrees again yesterday and in Sydney the temperature rose to 95.5 degrees at 3 p.m. , Five thousand forestry officials, bush fire brigade members, and volunteers fought more than 100 scrub and bush fires throughout the State, and some of these were still burning last night. Hundreds of square miles of the State s valuable scrub and forest lands are endangered. About 50 miles north of Sydney bush fires threatened 100 homes, in the Woy Woy and Gosford districts, but reports indicated that they were being brought under control. Huge columns of smoke rose from valleys in the Blue Mountains, and smoke rising to many thousands of feet covered almost a third of the State.

Blast of Wind Follows Sydney ? s Cooler Spell

(Rec. 10.10). SYDNEY, October 28. A terrific blast of wind, reaching 78 miles an hour, accompanied by torrential rain, and in some places by hail, struck Sydney, without warning, late this afternoon, and did heavy damage in the city and the suburbs. Sweeping in suddenly from the west, the wind unroofed dozens of houses and other buildings. It broke an aeroplane in half. It also dragged liners and small craft from their moorings in the harbour; uprooted hundreds of trees, and dislocated the electricity and telephone systems. The blast lasted only about live minutes, but it did thousands of pounds’ worth of damage.

Smoke From N.S.W.

Causes Haze in

Auckland

P.A. AUCKLAND, October 28. Softening distant views, and limiting the visibility to between six and twelve miles, a smoke haze, from the recent bush fires on the Australian east coast, hung over Auckland this morning. Smoke had been reported by aircraft coming across the Tasman Sea. said an official of the Auckland Weather Office, and it reached Auckland on Wednesday afternoon. It was thickest, however, this morning, and it could be noticed that it gave a definite bluish tinge to a long view.

DUNEDIN’S HIGH TEMPERATURES

DUNEDIN, Oct. 28

Sydney’s heat wave, which caused the' Australian city to swelter two days ago, arrived in Dunedin to-day to'cause the thermometers to soar over the 80-degree mark. Not since the turn of the century has a maximum temperature of more than 80 degrees been recorded in Dunedin in October. When a hot north-west wind blew across the city and the sun blazed from a clear sky this morning, meteorological stations at two separate points reported a maximum temperature of 81.5 degrees.

Commonwealth Idea Welcomed by India And Pakistan

LONDON, Oct. 27

The Prime Minister of India, Pandit Nehru, in a broadcast asserted that there was great scope for what he termed the” Commonwealth of Nations,’ ’to lead the world in maintaining peace and extending human rights. He added that the recent meeting of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers had shown him there was great scope for the Commonwealth to function in this way and not only to help itself but to help others also. Similar sentiments were expressed by the Pakistan Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan.