STORMS OF DUST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22183, 9 August 1935, Page 8

STORMS OF DUST

MILLIONS OF TONS 9 T \.'j ■ *. • REMARKABLE EFFECTS ' CANDLES AT MID-DAY i . [FROM OUR OWN* CORRESPONDENT] SYDNEY, Aug. 1 It is estimated that 10,000,000 tons of dust fell on South Australia in a series of dust storms lasting about a weok, while about 100,000,000 ions remained suspended in the air cr were blotvn out to sea. The same storms extended to Western New South Wales and over a great part of Victoria, whore the snow on the Alps was coloured red and pink with dust. In the far west of New South Wales, sheep were literally drowned in sand and people had to use candles at mid-day. Queensland, too, had a dust haze. .One of the strangest results of sanddrift has been the discovery ut Pinnaroo, South Australia, of the bones of an aboriginal, who is thought to have been buried in a shallow grave about 15 years ago. Cultivation of the earth over the grave, which wan about 3ft, 6in. deep, had lowered the ground levsl until the bones were only about 12in. bellow it. The drifting sands, particularly "ibis season, then apparently scoured away the remaining soil, until the bones projected and were found. At Port Augusta motor-cars could only crawl' along through streets 9in. de«p in dust, headlights being necessary in the daytime to penetrate the murky air , Trains were delayed ut many places, not only by sand on the trades, but also by extraordinary head win is. In the town of Hawker, housewives had to clean away as much as 2in. of .dust in homes where doors and windows were locked. In other parts of the country it -was impossible to keep the dust out of safes and ovens; sugar turned brown and milk looked like coffee. Wind relocities of up to 40 itiiles an hoiir on the ground and up to 75 miles an hour at 5000 ft. were recorded during <ih3 storm. Apart from its inconvenience, the dust was not considered likely to be injurious to health.