THUNDERSTORMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23425, 15 August 1939, Page 13

THUNDERSTORMS

Sir, —Your correspondent who gave some valuable data on the above is to be commended, for it seems that these natural laws, once disturbed by man's efforts, create untold destruction. When viewed in the light of such able and comprehensive clarity, it reveals the gigantic power behind just ordinary and natural elements. In his last letter, your correspondent gave the reasons for the concentration of lightning on a single isolated tree. I have seen similar phenomena on the vast and bare areas of Bechuanalaiul, South Africa,...where for hundreds of years the Dutch farmers and natives have been denuding the veldt of its fine timbers until a bare tree here and there is tlfe only grim sentinel left of what was once a vast evergreen forest.

Sitting in my tent I used to wonder and marvel at the terrific and close proximity of tremendous cloud upheavals, * with their awful claps of thunder and blue, vivid lightning, such as can only be seen and actually felt in these vast, bare areas. Truly, it itf a dangerous element, which commands respect. C.B.