VIOLENT GALE AT OTAGO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 84, 19 February 1864, Page 4

VIOLENT GALE AT OTAGO.

Yew, even of our oldest inhabitants, remember a gale of wind in this Province of greater violence,, or one nitendend with more disastrous results than was •'xperienced all through Sunday night, and up to a lute hour on Monday evening. It would be impossihle, in our present issue, to give in detail ail the many casualties and losses wliieli have occuiTed through the force of this wind-storm, inasmuch as the. cause which produced them militated against the possibility of ascertaining them. "We greatly fear that it will fall within the province of our duties to detail the loss not only of a larsre amount of property, hut, possibly, a sacrifice of human life. What has oeeuxicd inland, among our homesteads—how m.inv hundreds of acres of cereals may have been laid prostrate, and destroyed by tho overwhelming force of a furious gale—what catastrophes are to be chronicled on the goldficlds settlements—what "necidents by ilood and field" remain to be told, must be left to the intelligence whieh a few days will bring to hand. Fortunately for our mercantile marine arriving and departing, the wind has so far been Civoura'ile as not to make a lee-shore, or at this moment many a noble vessel would probably now be stranded on the New Zealand coast, wifb. a vengeriil ocean beating over the wrecks, and claiming as hostages to the ursrry waves the of many of our courageous and hardy seamen. Xfc may, mid we sincerely trust we do, iiuirur worse than subsequent facts ni»y conlinu : but "assuredly a severer tralo has seldom broken on our chores, or spread inland with its devastating influence. On Sunday night, soon after eleven o'clock, the .heavens, in a soutli-ejisterlv direction, were illuminated by intermittent and fitful flashes of a peculiar desciiptioii of lightning—not the lightninu of n close. sultry, and oppressive'summer irisjiit, winch the discharge of uiectric iluid after a time aids in cooliuir down, but they were il.i.-.he; which to the observant eye denoted a coniinc: Sturm of no ordinarv kind. Soon after twelve o'clock then- was a soughing ::i the air, and then kdib ti,e beginning of the ouibui-st, an oaien. of what whs to follow. All througii the durk jiours of that night until dawn, the sndo* broku over t!ie city in quails of tremendous power, H wakeuine sleepers, and jJarming many i'or the safety of their dwellings, numbers of which shook to their foundations and quivered in every timber. About daylight the gale had somewhat abated, but only to commence again with rent-wed force and destructive violence. It continued throughout the whole day until about nine o'clock in the evening, when its 'fiirv had exhausted itself. Tho barometer stood nt six o'clock yesterday morning at 2S-8 tenths, which is lower, as we are infunn.-d, than has been known for the hist two years. The sky was clear, a white scud only intervening to insr.-r----cept an unbroken firmament." The wind all Smid.iy night and the early period of Monday morning was from the north-west, veering round occasionally to the south of west, and afterwards going «U round tho compass, when it settled down, blowing in heavy squalls from the south-oast. We have not at the time of writing this, been able- to .-i.seert.'iin the whole of the damage which has be<m done. A'isitinc- tlie Recreation Grotuid, -ive found "that nearly the whole of the iron roof bad been carried away. 'What little rc-mamed of it was very insecure, and was only held on to the rafters by ropes being thrown across 'if, this ends- of which were made fast to the stout beams below. Many of tho covering boards had been loosened, and the entries and canvas linines in several places presented u. very tattered appearance. Tiie whole of the frame work which held the buildincr together, and the sons which rested on were uninjured, and the strongest gusU of the heaviest squidls appeared in no way to have aflected them. Opposite to the Grand Stand, on the rising ground facing Princesstreet south, the roofs of several houses were either wholly, or in part, carried away, the shingles, paling, nnd corrugated iron sheets being distributed in all directions. In the upper part of Wjlker ami Hope streets, many of the buildings hud received serious damage. In Manse-street, the phite-jfluss front of Mfessi-3. Shaw and ifarneit wa3 blown in, as alao one of the side-windows of the Melbourne Hotel. The owners of shops in the windward side of the street found it necessary to put up their shutters, close shop doors, and, during the greater part of the day, suspend their business operations. The roof of Mr. Ham's private residence, in High-street, was completely blown away. In George-street nearly the whole of the shops were closed, and it was found quite impossible to carry on business. The lront shop of Mr. Williams, chemist and druggist, was blown in; a chimney on the premises of Mr. Virtue, general storekeeper, on the opposite side of the road, was thrown down, and several of (he adjoining premises sustained much injury. In Moruv Place the doors of four cottages were partially Mo\ni away, two water-closets tlirown down, and "fencing destroyed. Most of the timber-yards in town suffered "considerable loss by the blowing down of stacks of timber, and the damage done to the boards and planking ■east on the ground. Between noon yesterday and eight o'clock last night, business in King and George streets wbb virtually suspended. In the neighbourhood of the AVater of Leith, cottage property to u considerable extent was destroyed. Numbers of trees were uprooted or the trunks denuded of their branches and foliage. In this neighbourhood much of the fencing was also injured, and a great nianv fruit-trees totally destroyed. To-morroiv, we fear, wiil furnish us with further particulars of disasters occasioned by the gale. Our shipping columns will also be found to show that one large ship has been driven on shore, and that many of our coastiu-' -and trading vessels have not been able to withstand the toree ot the teinpeat.— Leader, Fob 0