IN WINTER’S ICY GRIP

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20287, 21 December 1927, Page 9

IN WINTER’S ICY GRIP

SNOW CONTINUES IN ENGLAND. MANY DEATHS IN FRANCETRAMPS FED BY THE POLICE. (Press Asseciatlon—By Telegraph—Copyright.) LONDON*; December 19. (Received Dec. 20, at 5.5 p.m.) The indications are that England’s present snow and frost-bound condition will established a record over many years. Heavy falls of snow are continuing in most places, and there are instances of railway prints being frozen up, hindering traffic. ilo:rl traffic is seriously impeded and icc-br*takers are being used for the first time for years on many London canals, which are covered to a depth of three or lour inches. Early this morning a fire at Michelham Priory, an eleventh century building now used as a private residence, provided the weirdest spectacle. Water from the hoses formed icicles on the building, the firemen’s wet uniforms froze stiff, and the engines had to cease pumping periodically owing to the intakes freezing. In Parif the intensity of the cold is increasing, and a number of deaths as a result of the cold have been reported. About 250 out of 1000 telegraph lines in Paris snapped, and many of the smaller rivers in France are frozen, blocks of ice appearing in the Seine. The excessive cold also caused iron bridges to contract so that the wooden paving blocks were forced. As a result several bridges are impassable. The strangest scenes were witnessed in the Parisian underworld when the prefect of police issued instructions that tramps and vagabonds should be rounded up and brought during the night to the police stations, where they were served with soup and coffee, instead of being charged as outcasts. The wrecks of humanity were most reluctant to obey, but they were finally overjoyed at the reception from their old-time enemies. Some burst into tears at the unexpected hospitality.—A. and N.Z. Cable. *