THE GRIP OF WINTER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20642, 14 February 1929, Page 9

THE GRIP OF WINTER

ARCTIC WEATHER IN EUROPE. NO SIGN OF A BREAK. SNOWSTORMS AND GALES. s (United Press Association. > (By Electric Telegraph--Copyright.) LONDON, February 12, There is no sign of a break in the Arctic weather. The intense cold is accentuated by snowstorms and' the heavy galea throughout Britain. The Scotch express on the Midland railway ran into a goods train at Alfredton (Derbyshire). The engine was over turned, and four parcel vans were derailed, killing the driver and the fireman. The passenger carriages kept to the lines, and fortunately there was no fire. —Australian Press Association. HEAVY FROST IN LONDON. THERMOMETER STILL LOW. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, February 12. The bitterly cold weather continues throughout the British Isles. In London last night 12deg. of frost were registered, and the thermometer has risen little during the day. The cold is accentuated by an cast wind. A small coastal steamer bound for London with a cargo of soda grounded in a snowstorm early this morning. The crew of 13 were rescued by the Plymouth lifeboat, the crew of which spent the greater part of the night at sea, and by the rocket apparatus operated from the cliffs.

Severe snowstorms were experienced in the south ‘coast countries of England, and road transport was-hampered, but the most serious effects of the blizzard were felt in Wales, and Scotland. Snow ploughs were In some cases necessary to clear the railway lines. Pilots on the London-Paris air route state that the cold in the upper air was the most intense they had experienced in nearly ten years of crossChannel flying. It appears that the cross-Channel steamer Ville de Liege, which went ashore yesterday, is fast on the rocks, but only a small part of her Hull can be seen. This morning some of her mails were taken off at low tide. An attempt was to be made later to cet her off.

The steamer Peel Castle, with nearly 100 passengers on board, was exposed for 1C hours to a blinding snowstorm and tremendous seas on a voyage yesterday from Douglas, in the Isle of Man, to Liverpool. She was due at Liverpool landing stage at 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon, and did not arrive till shortly after 1 o’clock this morning. The icy gale froze the mixture of glycerine and water which covered her steering rods when she was off the bar lightship at 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon. The ship was helpless, and was immediately anchored while the engineers dismantled the steering gear. This was later reassembled, and the anchor was weighed shortly before midnight.

A GLOOMY FORECAST. THE WORST TO COME. LONDON, February 12. (Received Feb. 13, at 5.5 p.m.) Portions of the Thames Estuary are covered witH ice, and ships are arriving in the Thames with their rigging completely coated with ice which is sometimes inches thick. Remarkably low temperatures are being experienced, ranging ■■ om ludeg, at Hampstead, to ISdeg, at Birmingham, and 17deg. In central London—the lowest since 1900, when it was 14deg. The forecast is that tlm worst is yet to come in , England, which is threatened with the greatest frost in modern times.—Australian Press Association.

FIRES THROUGHOUT HOLLAND,

WATER SUPPLIES FROZEN.

AMSTERDAM, February 11, -there is an epidemic of fires throughout Holland owing to the cold freezing the water supplies. The fire brigade was called out 50 times yesterday in Amstei dam alone. The well-known theatre Flora was burnt to the ground. The famous town hall at Leiden was burnt down, and the priceless archives containing numerous treasures were destroyed. The brigades are helpless owing to .the freezing water. Three other buildings were burnt at Leiden, where the damage amounts to hundreds of thousands of pounds.—Australian Press Association —United Service.

SEVERE WEATHER IN ROUMANIA,

FAMILIES FROZEN TO DEATH,

LONDON, February 12. Messages from all parts of Europe disclose the terrible severity of the weather. Trieste had a 1 90-mile freezing hurricane, as the result of which 000 persons were injured. An avalanche at Innsbruck buried five smugglers.

, The temperature in parts of Roumania is 45dcg. below zero. Whole, families have been frozen to death.—Australian Press Association,

TWO DISASTERS IN GERMANY,

INTENSE COLD RESPONSIBLE.

BERLIN, February 12, (Received Feb. 13, at 5.5 p.m.) The intense cold was responsible for two disasters.

The Suttgart express was forced to slow down owing to the radiator freezing. The driver of the following express did not see the signals owing to the windows being covered with frost and it crashed into the Stuttgart train. Three people were killed and 17 were injured. An attempt to thaw frozen calcium carbide in an acetylene gas factory at Bremen led to an explosion in which three were killed and 20 injured seriously. The whole factory was demolished. The Rhine, the Mosel, and the Ruhr Rivers are frozen for considerable distances, and Frankfurt has experienced its lowest temperature for a century. A blinded man was found frozen to death at Disburg, his dog keeping watch beside the body and not allowing: anyone to approach. °

GIPSIES FROZEN TO DEATH.

.WARSAW, February 13. (Received Feb. 13, at 5.5 p.m.) Forest guards near Lublin found an entire gipsy band of 34 men, women, and children frozen to death,—Australian Press Association. BULGARIAN TOWNS ICEBOUND. PEOPLE SKATING ON COAST. SOFIA, February 12. (Received Feb, 13, at , 8 p.m.) Varna and Burgas arc ice-bound, and people are skating along the coast for the first time since 1849. —Australian Press Association.

SNOWFALLS IN FRANCK,

A MONASTERY ISOLATED.

PARIS, February 12. (Received Feb. 13, at 8 p.m.) Twenty-six degrees of frost have been recorded —the lowest, with three exceptions, for 55 years. The prefect of police is installing braziers in sheltered corners of the principal streets. Many trains are delayed owing to the engine tubes freezing. Heavy snowfalls have occurred in many places, even in Marseilles and Cannes, and the famous Chartreuse monastery, near Grenoble, is snowed up and isolated.—Australian Press Association.