FROST CAUSES HAVOC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18455, 19 July 1923, Page 11

FROST CAUSES HAVOC.

QUEENSTOWN FROZEN.

EVEN CLOCKS STOPPED.

HOSPITAL MATRON'S TRIALS

Not since the winter of 1903, when 20 degrees of frost were registered, has such severe frost been experienced in the district as we have had over the last few nights, states the Lake Wakatipu paper. The thermometer has read —20deg. of frostfor three consecutive nights, and in spite of the sunshine each day there has been no thaw whatever.

Residents have been seriously hampered for the want of water, as in practically every household the tale of frozen pipes and taps has been the same. High pressure systems no longer exist as far as supplies of hot water are concerned, and many residents of the Eastern terrace have been entirely dependent on snow for their daily requirements of water. Liquids such as milk and ink are frozen, while even eggs are not immune from the ministrations of Jack Frost. • A hen's egg last week was cracked from point to point, and the contents were a solid lump of ice. Lovers of skating, the king of winter pastimes, have had ■« fine innings on the park pond for some days, the surface being fairly good and the ice as strong as it has ever been known to be. The severe frost has taken toll of clocks in Queenstown and outlying districts. Presumably the oil which lubricates the works has become congealed, with the result that several " Big Bens " and their smaller brothers no longer tell the time o' day. At the Queenstown Post Office only one clock remains on duty. Some. idea of the severity of the frosts that have been experienced in the Lake County Hospital may be gauged by the following report received by the Hospital Board from the matron:—" We have had some very severe frosts, indeed, and things here are in a bad way. All the water pipes are_ burst, and in some cases pieces of the pipes and taps blow clean away. The gas engine in now frozen, and, although we have tried all means to keep it going, we are now compelled to use lamps and candles. This morning all the heaters in both wards are burst beyond repair, although there was a fire left on at night for safety. These heaters are cast-iron, and some have huge pieces blown out of them- The wards are intensely cold, and it is a dreadful business trying to keep the patient® warm." The Cromwell correspondent of the Otago Daily Times states that the prolonged and severe frosts are causing ' fruitgrowers much concern. Several thousand cases of apples are still held in local orchards, and it is feared that We j quantities will be ruined. Until the thaw 1 comes it will be difficult to say how the stock of apples will come out. >