WHITE SUNDAY

Southland Times, Issue 20208, 20 June 1927, Page 8

WHITE SUNDAY

A HEAVY FROST V FOURTEEN DEGREES REGISTERED MANY WATER PIPES BURST Those who on waking yesterday morning gazed out of their windows could well have imagined that they had been transported in their sleep to fairyland. The roofs of houses : glistened with white frost and the boughs of trees seemed to sparkle as if laden with a myriad of gems. A white carpet lay on lawns and paths to a depth of an inch, for Friday night’s hail and sleet instead of dis- ; appearing had been reinforced by the frost. Even common garden weeds assumed a delicate white beauty outlined as they were with their covering of ice crystals. At any rate, that was how it felt lying snug in bed, where rhe aesthetic point of view came readily. But it was amazing how abruptly the i mental outlook changed after stepping on 1 to the cold floor and becoming surrounded with icy air instead of warm blankets. Nor did subsequent discoveries tend to revive aesthetic feelings. In the bathroom frozen taps made a shower or even a wash impossible. Even the hot water taps refused to disgorge, while on the window delicate designs, traced in ice, accelerated the shivers playing leap frog down the spine. On the back doorstep milk and cream delivered about 6.30 a.m. had been frozen in the short time it had remained outside. Here was real ice cream with a vengeance, and strangely enough freezing seemed to have contracted it rather than expanded it. Further afield ice lay to a depth of half an inch in the wash-tubs and was still thicker outside, giving one visions of the joys of real skating. Even such drab material as the wire-net-ting round the fowl run looked quite beautiful with its dainty crystal covering. Had the domesticated birds themselves been frozen on their perches the scene would have been complete. As it was they had to wait many hours before they could penetrate the coating of ice in their drinking vessels. At an early hour telephones were requisitioned for the purpose of sending S.O.S. signals to the nearest plumbers, who will doubtless find few idle moments at their disposal to-day. According to information supplied last evening by Mr T. D. Lennie, 14 degrees of frost were registered last night. Registrations in past years have been as follows: June 17, 1925, 15 degrees; June 29, 1912, 144 degrees; June 19, 1925, 14 degrees; June 3, 1916, 14 degrees and July 31, 1919, 13 degrees.