THE SEVERE WEATHER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10420, 24 July 1895, Page 4

THE SEVERE WEATHER.

The Timaru correspondent of the Lyttelton Times writes:—" There is very little -news from the Mackenzie country, and hone of a cheering, character. .} There has been very little diminution in the snow. The enow has gone from the open about Fairlie, bnt lingers in the Some of the small grazing runholders neat Burkes Pass have got some of the strongest of their sheep out of the snow, which are now feeding and camping on the reads down to Fairlie. There hus been no communication with auy station in the Upper Mackenzie country, except with Richmond, Cowan's (close to Te Kapo), and Balmoral. Mr Cowan has been quite unable to go over his country, even |to look at the sheep. A single letter has been got from Balmoral, where the manager reported (on July 13; 24 inches of snow. There was no black country anywhere to ba seen, and the sheep were dying fast."

The statement that the snow on the mountains in thei "Upper Waitaki is thawing is contradicted by the Oamaru Mail, which states that so far there is no sign of a thaw. On the contrary, it appears to freeze more and more keenly every, night. On Snnday night there were 28degof snow at Kurow, and thei Hakateramea river—a rapid-flowing mountain stream— ■was f rczeii, over at the township. Great boulders of ice—miniature icebergs:—were rolling down the Waitaki-yesterday morning in hundreds. Even indoors the frost was very keen, the ink in the bottles at the station and elsewhere being frozen hard. ,>

The Mount Ida Chronicle1 reports that the weather still continues very wintry, snow still covering the ground throughout the district, and very hard frosts have been experienced at night during the past, week, and skating and curling are in full swing. At Ida Valley the snow is level with the fences, and at Blacks and the Manuherikia Valley there is about TBin. Rabbits are dying in thousands ,of starvation, and the sheep in the higher parts of the district are also starving, and it is.impossible to save them.