HEAVY GALE IN SOUTH CANTERBURY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8596, 11 September 1889, Page 2

HEAVY GALE IN SOUTH CANTERBURY.

THE TELEGRAPH LINES BROKEN. (Pek United Pbess Association.) Asiiuubton, September 10. A severe gale from the north-west was experienced here last eveuing. The wind blew pretty strongly all the afternoon, but about 9 o'clock it sprang up with hurricane force, and so continued for about two hours. A considerable amount of damage was done. One of the end walls of the Boys' High School, a brick building, fell out owing to the vibration of the building. A Catholic church in coursa or construction at Methven is reported to have been demolished. A good deal of the roof of the N.Z.L. and M A. Company's store was blown off, and the main street was littered with sheets of galvanised iron. Blacksmiths' shops at Tinwald and Wakanui, were wrecked, and also a grain shed on. the Westerned station. Many chimneys were blown down, and some windows in shops and many in private houees were blown in. Some paddocks of late sown wheat, where the grain had not made sufficient roots to hold have been destroyed, the soil down to the bottom of the plough being blown clear away. The telegraph line suffered severely, and owing to the number of posts blown down communication north and south is carried on with difficulty. The g tie was tho severest experienced here for many years. Timabu, September 10. A great north-west gale swept across the plains last evening. All the wires are dowD between here and Christcburch, and only one wire is left north of there. The greatest streugth of the gale appears to have been about Timaru. A good deal of damage was done.