WINTRY WEATHER

Hokitika Guardian, 30 September 1929, Page 3

WINTRY WEATHER

A SOUTHERLY STORM

mortality among lambs.

CHRISTCHURCH, Sept. §B.

As cold a snap as has occurred throughout the ■ winter was experienced all over the province during tnq past two days, adding to the inconvenience and loss caused by an already particularly laic, season:—the IrtC-ist, in fact, that has been known wi Canterbury.for many years. , ■ The wind veered round to ~ the soxuh-uest ou Thi;.rsday morning, and Hhis was tl.o licraid of a southerly storm which broke in the evening to the aecoini animent of heavy rain and sleet showers., Tlieite were/ heavy falls of snow in the higher country and the Port Hills were heavily coated.'

The farmers on the ranges and foothills will be the heaviest losel*s, as tliis break in the weather has come when lambing is at its height. Gardeners and fruiterers will also suffer to a lesser extent. Heavy mortality is anticipated among lambs in the back districts, where snow is lying plentifully. • The farmers there are already suffering as a result of the at ei ess of growth due "to the worst spring that has been experienced for a considerable nuriiber of years, and this heavy weather will add to’their, ’losses..

Snow commenced to fall’ in • the Ha warden and Culverden districts |on Thursday, and after a stormy night heavy showers of hail and snow' continued yesterday. There - was snow .‘lying on the ground right down to. the flats, and there was a : heavier coating on the ranges than there .has borin for many years at this time of the year. •

Lambing on the foothills is just at its peak, and with the wind and snow on Thursday night and Friday, few of those dropped Would survive. Lambing •on the high country has not yet started in one or .two front places it has, and the losses there are expected to cover many lambs. An old resident of the Hawarden district—he has been there for over Go years—stated last evening that this is the latest esason that has been known.\ Feed was never so backward at this period of the year, and had it not been for a good autumn and a mild winter stock would be in a very bad way indeed. At Hawarden last evening there were signs of the weather breaking.

At Methven yesterday there, were frequent falls of snow and heavy showers of sleet and .rain accompanied by a bitterly cold wind. The snow soon melted, but conditions were very wintry. Losses among lambs aro inevitable, but. the damage. has .not. yet been,assessed.. ; r . „ . : ,Qn. ; the (.Plains. iambijig ( isj \j rell(«acivanped and losses iW^l• fiojt.jbe iheayy.l