A WARM SUNDAY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 885, 11 December 1916, Page 10

A WARM SUNDAY.

STRAINING THE THERMOMETER THE GARDENERS' DESPAIR. DASHES FOR THE SEASIDE.

Early in November gardeners were looking forward expectantly for rain. They are still looking forward, but with less, expectancy, as the days grow hotter and less cloudy with the approach of Christmas. The rattle of watering-cans and the splashing of hose jets have entered into rivalry with the rattle of icecream carts, and the cries of aeratedwater vendors as the predominant noises of the suburbs. The man who takes pride in his rotation of vegetable crops gets around in pyjamas to exchange eaiiy-morning consolations with the neighbour whose annuals He drooping in listless dejection. Doth take vows to give up the cultivation of the soil as a hobby, and to go in for chicken-raising. They scan the horizon for signs of a thunderstorm, and scowl at the gentleman who comes smilingly along to take tally of the watermeter. He and the ice-cream merchants are Ihc only ones, apparently, who take a wholesome delight in the pronounced indications that summer is here.

Yesterday was the hottest day we have had this year, and for a number of years. It was the hottest day experienced since January 29, 1908. On that far back occasion the thermometer got as high as the 95.6 level; yesterday the maximum temperature registered was 91.5 in the shade. There was little in the way of a breeze, except fitful gusts which tantalised rather than cooled. Churchgoers sallied forth after breakfast, fortified against the assaults of the sun's rays by fabric fashioned to admit of lightness, and semi-transparency. They went out cool, powdered and religious. They came back hot, perspiring, and exasperated. Seeking the interior of their homes they were rapidly forced to the conclusion that seclusion spelt renewed discomfiture. In the garden shade Ihey were forced to admit that it was "very warm." Both inside and outside they lamented the call that religious duty made on a Sunday that was fitted only for 'sheltered seclusion. At the seaside there was a great demonstration of I bathing in all the various grades, I which come under the common designation applying to the cooling of j human-kind by water. New Brighton was likened by spectators to i Manly. Crowds thronged the beaches from early morning till late

in the evening, while to Sumner the cars took their thousands. It is said that the visitors to the watering places constituted a Sunday record. There seems no prospect of any immediate change. The weather is exasperatingly hot in the city again to-day, business people and pedestrians dividing their conversational discussion between the weather and the war regulations. The highest temperature registered to-day was I 78.5, to which the mercury climbed ! at 10.10 this morning.