PLIGHT IN COUNTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19832, 30 December 1927, Page 9

PLIGHT IN COUNTRY.

SICK WITHOUT DOCTORS.

TANKS AS SNOW-PLOUGHS.

TERRIFIC SEAS IN CHANNEL. By Telegraph—Presit Association—Copyright. (Received December 29. 8.25 tun.) A. and N.Z. " LONDON. Dec. 28. Britain is still in the grip of Arctic conditions. with nine degrees of frost now prevailing. This has increased the difficulty of clearing the snowdrifts. Numerous hamlets, especially in the Mendips and other hill districts, have beon cut off since Christmas Day, and have received no letters or papers and very little food. The telephone lines are disorganised, and so communication is practically impossible. Doctors on Salisbury Plain are unable to reach the sick, and children are being born without medical help. The snowdrifts on Salisbury Plain arc in many cases 20ft. deep. The doctors say they attempted to force their motors through the drifts, but fafled. Army tanks assisted in forcing passages through the snow-blocked roads at. Tidworth and elsewhere on Salisbury Plain.

Dragon Tanks at Work. Two infantry battalions are assisting to clear the Andover Road. Three " Dragon " tanks, by crushing the drifts, enabled an omnibus service to reach Tidworth Camp. The tanks also brought mails, milk, and provisions, which were running low in the camps. One tank rescued a number of women passengers who were stranded on the railway line near Rulford.

For the third day fierce north-east gales have swept the Channel and terrific seas are running. The gale is still raging. There have been again to-day no steamer services between Dover and Calais, but the Southern Railway decided that it would be safe to permit two steamers to resume the Folkestone to Boulogne service. The steamer Engadine, after landing 650 passengers, at Folkestone, was found to be unfit to return to Boulogne and will be out of commission for a week. Waves Flood Vessel. The huge waves flooded the hatches and burst ihe bulkhead of the ladies' saloon, causing consternation among the women and children as the' water poured into the crowded saloon. Disembarkation was an exceedingly difficult task. Some of the women were so ill that they had to be carried ashore. It is intimated that for some days normal cross-Channel services will be impossible. All the aeroplane services from Croydon to the Continent are still suspended. One aeroplane arrived to-day at Lympne, Sussex, from Ostend, but there have been no departures from Lympne. The River Thames is in flood at many points, and bungalows are in some places deeply submerged and the occupants have had to employ boats for the purposes of communication. The telegraph and telephone lines have been largely restored, «but 183 trunk lines are still down, and 3600 lines of private subscribers in the London area are still out of order. It is now possible to telephone to Paris again after two . days' suspension of the service.