THE WEATHER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2164, 15 August 1895, Page 7

THE WEATHER.

The Kurow oorreb^andons of t!is Ow Mail states that a search party which went out from Sandhurst bring a deplorable account of the country, added to a terrible experience of the snow which they would not on any account undergo again. Almost, nil the horses' feed h<vs gone in _, each station, given to the sheep ; and yet the snow has not gone. So now the horses are in the same predicament as the sheep — no food for them. One poor fellow was mat with whose feet were completely frostbitten and bandaged up to an enormous sice. He was left at one of the stations. It is supposed he will eventually lose his feet. Not a single sheep was anywhere to be seen, all being under the snow. Neither Burke'a nor Mackenzie's Pass was able to be forced through, and a rough time was had in crossing the Hakateramea r<»nge.

A viritor to Haldon reports (fays the Oamara Mail) that on one block of land where 10,000 sheep were being depastured at the time of the storms only eight animals were visible. At Grampians the loss is very severe, 1000 sheep being skinned in one week, and this before the snow h*d gone. A shepherd who has been 30 years in the district states that he has never seen anything to approach the severity of the weather. At Campbell's, on the Whale's FUt, 6000 m»i ten ewes were being grazed, and it is not expected that a single hoof will be saved. Sibbald will be a very heavy loser, while at Richmond's it is expected that there will be a clean wipe out.

Oar Arrowtown correspondent telegraphed on Mond»y that snow was falling there with every indication of & storm of some severity.

The intelligence, latest to hand, from the pastoral country in the Upper Waitaki and Central Ota go districts is of a more cheering character than has been received for some time. Advices from the Hakateramea state that the weather is fresh and the snow slowly melting, and that the sheep are being put on pasture as the grass appears. From one of the large stations in the interior of the province, intelligence has been received that the snow is disappearing on the sunny slopes of the mountains. We have a practical illustration of the leDgth of time stock will live without food when snowed up. Mr George Sutherland, who occupies one of the Maerewhenua runs, informs ns (North Otago Times) that on the 13th of June snow began to fall, and on that date about 200 sheep belonging to a Kyeburn settler were snowed up near Dantey's Pass. Several times Mr Danaey has noticed these sheep when out getting his own sheep down, and about a week ago he again saw about one-half of them still alive, although it must have been seven weeks ago since they were first snowed up. During this time they could have had no food other than the wool off each other's backs, if that can be called food. Mr Sutherland s»ys the sheep he has removed from the snow country on to the lower country have generally had about 4in of ice on their backs, and some wild sheep (carrying about three years' wool) have a coating of about 6in of ice, and look a good deal like armadillos, only being able to move the head up and down, These cheep are invariably

frozen firm to the snow by the wool. At the same time there were snowed up in Dantey's Pass five bullocks, and these are now surrounded by a wall of snow 6ft in height. The last time they were seen they had been seven weeks imprisoned, and four of them were stil) alive, although they had dwindled away to mere skeletons. During the time the sheep and cattle have been imprisoned they have been subjected to all the icy blasts that have been prevalent, and had these winds been less frequent it is possible that amongst the sheep the deaths would have beea few.