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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 11, Issue 856, 6 July 1867, Page 4

Weathee in the South. — The " Tuapeka Press," of the 22nd June, says : — " The long-continued drought which, we believe, has been almost without parallel in the memory of the oldest inhabitant, is at length at an end, and has been succeeded by a continuance of wet weather almost as unparalleled. For the last ten days, the weather has been broken and very large quantities of rain have fallen. On Tuesday evening, a severe snow storm took place, which extended over a large area of country ; on some of the ranges, especially the Lammerlaw. Miners have been obliged to leave their dwellings, and come down into ' the lowlands ' till the rough weather is over. At present there seems small prospect of the weather settling for some days to come." The Whale Fishery- off Iceland had long ceased to be carried on until, recently, an enterprising American, finding that a century of repose had caused the fish to increase abundantly, establish ed himself at Seydisfjord, on the east coast, whore, in company with his four brothers, he adopts a peculiar method of fishing. He puts out to sea in a small screw steamer, with a large whale-boat in tow, and strikes the whale by means of a harpoon shot from a sort of rocket apparatus. The handle or stock is charged with some detonating compound, which explodes as the weapon enters the fish, killing the whale almost instantly, but the generation of gas in its body prevents the sinking of the carcase. The destructive missile is the American's own invention.