THE WEATHER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXII, Issue 15511, 11 January 1911, Page 10

THE WEATHER.

At the Ashburton Forks, AVinchmore, Mitcham and Chertsey, at one o’clock on Monday a hailstorm did an immense amount of damage to standing crops, much of which was over an area, the width of which was about two and a half miles. The crop is now not fit for reaping. Some cf the standing crop at Winchmore and' the. upper part of Ashburton Forks was cut off to the ground, and much more was stripped of practically the whole of the grain. One farmer says that the hailstones were three-quarters of an inch thick and were driven with cyclonic force, cutting foliage off trees, battering turnips into an unrecognisable mass and stripping fruit trees. The storm lasted twenty minutes. One farmer lost, about £4OO in five minutes. Amongst the chief sufferers at "Winchmore and Ashburton Forks are Messrs] Anderson, J. Huston. A. Gilmoiir, Watson, C. Hill. R. Corbett, J. O’Grady, J. Rooney and J. Doherty. Green crop and ripe crop suffered alike- The storm raged over practically the same area as a similar storm did two years ago. v