A SEVERE GALE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 97, 7 December 1911, Page 5

A SEVERE GALE.

FAIRLY GENERAL IN THE SOUTH. ' DAMAGE AT CHRISTCHURCH. (Per Press Association.) Christchurch, December 6. The big east stand at Lancaster Park was wrecked ■ by the nor’-west gale. The roof was lifted bodily, and che damage is estimated at £IOOO. A very violent north-west gale blew In the city to-day, and the gusts were exceptionally strong. The gale was at its height about midday. At Lancaster Park, the roof of the stand on the east side of the ground was lifted bodily, and the larger portion was deposited on the roofs of houses in Wilson’s Road. A portion was also deposited in the front part of a house, making a gaping hole in the roof and smashing the verandah. The damage is estimated at £ISOO. At Lyttelton the squalls were of extraordinary violence, raising a heavy sea in the outer harbour, and whirling clouds of spray high in the air. H.M.S. Powerful, anchored in the stream, caught the full force of the gale, and at 10 a.m. went off to sea. the Governor was to have visited Vice-Admiral Hall, but the visit was cancelled. The wind has abated somewhat, and there are indications that it is shifting to south-west.

BRICK WALL BLOWN DOWN. Ashburton, December 6. A strong nor’-west gale blew at Ashburton all the morning, and at about 9.00 it blew down the north-west brick wall of the new theatre now in course of erection. The wall for the whole length was completely demolished, almost level with the ground. It was 38ft. high and about 100 ft. long, but the rest of the wall will come down. It is feared that the south-west wall is also badly shaken, as it was seen to sway badly several times. When the north-west wall caved in, the men were fastening ropes with a view to saving it, and one man had to jump a considerable height from the scaffolding to the ground. He escaped without injury.

DAMAGE AT DUNEDIN. GIRL HURT AT HENLEY. Dunedin,- December 6. A heavy south-westerly gale prevailed in Dunedin to-day for a considerable. distance north and south, and well into the evening. Considerable damage, chiefly of a minor nature, was done. At Henley a little girl named Jessie Reid, while taking a message to the railway station, was struck by a piece of roofing from the goods shed, which had been dislodged, and sustained a bad fracture of the right leg, besides being severely bruised. The girl was removed to the hospital. : A tablet porter’s hut at Puraka- V nui was blown over and caught fire, S being burnt down. It is also reported that two private residences at Pu- .?• rakanui have been blown down. i|;