"FATEFUL SEVENTEENTH."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17371, 19 January 1920, Page 6

"FATEFUL SEVENTEENTH."

V'vffiS : — •* ■■-'■'■ ''-'■' SOLAR DISTURBANCE PERIOD. .-: • , . _ . ' ~" — —;— * STOBMS AST) DISASTERS. 1 ■::■''.:■■ '"i:' r ■■■ NORTHERN HEMISPHERE ■ STENTS. It; will be recalled that serums solar v ;.' disturbances, with consequent calamitous ■• v happenings on ; the earth, were predicted .-'■:. early •in December by an American V|"j :1 astronomer, Professor Porta. --&>■' great ' . was the ware in' America that, many "pecpla ;■; belisved the end of the world would occur >on December 17, when the placets -.riach their most critical position, and When p^jfj? r great simspot would be causing a gigantic • conflagration on trio sun. flow mat the jff||&dangerous period";,has; passed, it ;is intemung' to note "the unusual number ot '. disasters on land and sea mat nave been '■:;. j {'■■ recorded previous to; and uiurediawiy.i'ioiiowaig tue : "weiuji. day." "> ! Alio ' «auaw> ~ ■ phics were .. oaoanea to tue ¥%&, xiortnern lieni»*jinere."" v, •".>*' ?\.' '""t '! -

|CJ=£s# JUBVjStor to l^ecembar 1 17 great storms Pf swept me. Atlantic UCean. fourteen -vea- '.••.".. fas wtro damaged, '^ud>'utiio^''isnUsti steamer .nesiina, '»wi tot?, was reported =■ r Biotkixig:U'Uie iMorui Auaiiuc.; £x>verai ': ships sent out tS.U.6. messages, and bad to obtain assistance to reach: purl. In MotffifyhxiA the weaklier was very wild, hamburgh and many other distrute experaiiced the worst snotfatorms on recoru during the last fiity years, and the ■ people sut- . ler ed great ; Hardships ~.■ in ; consequence./ Following tho cbrou'iuugical order oi events, '." it may -do mentioned ue:e ' that what was apparently,,; the only incident of/a "posi- '■; ■tivti" nature in ''"ftew<-*Zealand took 'piaca ■ on December 16, when v fishing party in • •.■"'■■■ the Bay of 1 lenty experienced a peculiar tidal disturbance, which lasted some ntteen . minutes. "! ' - By December 24 it was reported from London that gales ' were rag.ng in the '/ .;-.-..' Channel ' and the Atlantic. k Casualties were reported, principally * among lighters, ,a, 'if:-'.- dozen of which ; were ; wrecked "on the Belgian coasts, several of the crews being ■;'•-- drowned. An'unnamed cargo steamer also ; foundered with all hands. .lifeboats were ■ •■■■ • kept busy, and quantities of wreckage were 'y';'" : . found utar the uoodwm Sands. Un De- •■<} cember 29 a Dutch steamer was driven on V■: 'to the rocKs off Cape K-ace, and the entire f. crew perished, the lueboatEten being unC able to weather the storm. % •':•v'=:> All this'feme torrential rains were falling " in many parts of b/u/ope, and the JUver • Seine . began to rise in an alarming man- *;•: •;/ ner, so much so that a repetition of the ; , 1910 diraster was feared. In addition, the ;• , Heuitht), the Moselle, the) Saone, and the Bhoifc Bivers overflowed, byes were lost, '■;. '■ ' ; railway services interrupted, and factories . closed. No fewer than 700 silk textile fac- '■'■"■■■- tories iii- the Vosges '■'alone were * under y water. ~On ■ New' .>x ear's. Eve toother ship '•■'•\^£-;>'|went': l down ! op the Goodwins in : terrible :': "■ weather, 32 men being drowned and only one saved.' '■■-'"«.. .' , .'. '~■•'•.-.'• ■ The;,flooding'• in France continued into ' January;'leaving the street** "and outskirts of Paris two feet under water. : From I Amsterdam came the report that the floods were the worst for 40 yecrs, and that in the brickyards district 15),000,000 bricks ■were destroyed by water. -. '< '']'■■ In Ser/ia great snowstorms, lasting four , days, caused much disorganisation. Then followed the violent earthquakes in various parts of Mexico on January 5 and 6. Villages were destroyed and hundreds of people killed. t The wild .weather in northern countries still continued, according to recent reports, and steamers were reported wrecked, bodies being picked up along various coasts. Hundreds of passengers were lost from a French steamer, which Bank after being damaged in ft storm. During the entire period the moisture of the atmosphere seemed to concentrate in * those affected areas, leaving the southern hemisphere in a state of great drought. Australia and New Zealand, as is well known, have suffered very much in this respect, but South Africa is reported to be in a much worse position, with the result that famine faces alout 1,000,000 natives.