COLDER THAN THE POLE

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11068, 15 February 1929, Page 5

COLDER THAN THE POLE

MANY PEOPLE FROZEN TO DEATH TRAINS AND CARS DUG OUT OF SNOW. United Press Assn —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, February 13. Snow fell practically throughout England to-day. Several trains had to be dug out and the- passengers transferred by road. Many roads in Scotland are blocked and over 100 cars are snowed in. The temperature is still falling. To-night, the river Wey from Weybridge to Thames, is frozen and the rivers Lea and Kennett are frozen in parts, while ice is forming on the Thames at Caversham. An unusual feature of the ice visitation in Europe is that Iceland _is 17 degrees and Spitzbergen 10 degrees warmer than London. _ Heavy snowstorms prevail in Northern and Central Italy. There is widespread interruption in the train services. Several towns- are three feet deep in snow. Avalanches occurred in the province of Ancona. The snow is 20 feet high, blocking the railway. Snow is falling in Rome. Temperatures in Jugo-Slavia remain at 13 degrees below zero. Rumania is suffering more severely, with a temjierature of 45 below zero. The Berlin—Bucharest trains are three days overdue. The director of State pawnshops in Paiis has ordered all eiderdowns, blankets and woollen shawls to be restored gratis. The Seine is almost blocked with ice above Montereau. The Marne is freezing, while all rivers as far west as Cherbourk are becoming icebound. Lyons is practically cut off. The weather verifies in remarkable fashion the prediction of the Abbe Morenx, the famous director of Bourges Observatory, in January, 1928. “The Thames ” will freeze over in the winter of 1929 and western Europe will experience conditions somewhat akin to the ice age.” At Budapest, 10,000 people participated in a scramble for free coal distributed by the Government to relieve fireless homes. Fifty collapsed and were taken to hospital with frozen hands, ears and feet. RUGBY, February 13. Unusually severe frosts continued over the whole of Britain yesterday. In Loudon it was the coldest day since 1908, and it is over 40 years since such cold has been 'experienced in February. Last night the minimum temperature in London was 21 degrees Fahrenheit, but much lower readings were registered in the suburbs and the provinces. while in Scotland and Wales the cold was again intense. The bitter east wind has, however moderated. Heavy snowfalls in Scotland and Wales have greatly hindered communications with London, and a Glasgow express was delayed owing to the freezing of water in the railway troughs, and on arrival the ice which had collected between the coaches had to he broken through before they could be separated. Two trains, caught in snowdrifts near Stranraer, were imprisoned throughout yesterday, hut have now been released as the result of work by snow ploughs and an engine of 120 tons. At Penvgroes, near Carnarvon, a passenger train was snowed up throughout Monday night. Frozen points delayed rail traffic in many parts of the country.

Road traffic is much more seriously disorganised. The inhabitants state that the conditions near Stranraer are even worse than during the great blizzard in 1895. Buses and about 100 motor cars are snowed up in the neighbourhood. In South Wales many motor bus services have also been suspended, and numerous accidents due to skids on icebound roads occurred yesterday, while scores ‘of vehicles are abandoned in snowdrifts.

The severe frost continues to-day in the British Isles, the thermometer readings being even lower than yesterday. The coldest place appears to he Ross-on-Wye, in Herefordshire, where the thermometer showed a ground temperature of 6 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, or 38 degrees of frost. Ice has begun to form on the Thames in tliq higher reaches. Other rivers are also becoming frozen, while the canals, lakes, and ponds are generally ice-bound. Householders are finding their chief discomfort in the freezing of waterpipes. This was the subject of general complaint to-day. All over London the Metropolitan Water Board is fixing stand pipes in the streets, and housewives come with buckets and kettles and obtain water from the mainl Thousands of frozen pipes are bursting and causing damage.

INFLUENZA AND PNEUMONIA. PARIS, February 13. Statistics collected throughout Europe show that the deaths due to the so-called “ice age” winter are approaching twenty thousand. There have been at.least 2500 deaths from influenza and pneumonia in France alone. There have been sev-

eral hundred deaths from drowning and shipwrecks. More than a hundred have been reported as frozen to death in Europe. To-day’s reports show little abatement of the freezing cold. Nancy registered 54 degrees of frost. The river Meurthe is frozen. AEROPLANE CARRIES FOOD TO ICE-BOUND SHIPS. BERLIN, February 13. The Elbe is frozen over from Dresden to Hamburg. Over 30 degrees of frost have been registered in Western, Southern and Central Germany. Aeroplanes are carrying food and spirits to ice-bound ships in the Baltic. Fog is adding to the difficulties. A Weisbaden report states that the cold was so severe at Landau that several French sentries collapsed and were, taken to hospital seriously ill. One was discovered dfad standing at his post with his rifle clutched in his hand. The British Rhine army sentries have been issued pullovers and sheepskin coats.