THE WEATHER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6648, 12 September 1889, Page 3

THE WEATHER.

Our Waikari correspondent writes : — "Beeton's Encyclopedia " states: "No ■wind can arise without a previous derangement of the general equilibrium." Be that an it may, our general equilibrium for some considerable time past has been decidedly "normal," aa the medical j faculty frequently expresses itself, but en ! Monday night lasfc it was unusually de- | ranged by the howling Nor*-weßter. % Part i of the roof was blown off the Star and . Garter Hotel; tbe whole of the roof was i blown off the house occupied by Mr Barker, engine-driver; Mr A. Allan's stable haa again collapsed, and so too has Mr James Little's implement shed. Some of the crops have been considerably damaged, earth and seed grain having been blown clean away. I am sorry to record that Mr J. Glendinning has probably been the heaviest looser. A kerosene tin came fitting ifeuwifljr way floTO.Erittcefc&taeei,

at midnight and frightened a lady into the belief that the friends of the " tin-kettle band" were again on the war-path. One gentleman, whose veracity is " above rubies " or even a long beer, states that his pigstye and pigs were blown off his section, and that he spent half the night on his bauds and knees looking for them. At midnight on Tuesday our valloy whs awakened by rattling volleys of thunder, followed by a heavy downpour of welcome .rain that gladdens the hearts of the farmers. Our Ashburton correspondent writes : — The rain of yesterday has already had a marked effect on vegetation on t'ne plains, and the grass has taken good heart aud made a fresh start. The good likely to follow the rainfall cannot bo estimated. All the rivers are flowing fairly full, but although the North-west gale of Monday night had been expected to send down abundance of snow-water, the expected flood has not yet manifested itself. Our Methven correspondent says : — I have received tho following information from reliable sources : Ou Gould and Cameron's estate at Springfield the wind drove the sheep under a gorse fence, the eoil blew on to them, and about one hundred wore pulled out dead. The same thing occunedat Mr John Deans' ettate (Waimarama). 1 ha^e been unable to loarn tho number of sheep lost there. About 140 acres in wheat ou Mr Gordon Holmes' estate were completely stripped of the loose soil and seed. Several other farms fared as badly. The engine shed at Springburn was blown over, and is a total wreck. The Springfield station rlbo Buffered severely. The two grain sheds at Lyndhurst suffered very much. Gould and Cameron will require new iron for their Bhed. Friedlander Bros'. Bhed lost about one-third of the iron roof. D. Hsndeison, of Beluiont, also suffered severely, tho large shed and stables beiug completely stripped of iron. The eoil on nearly all lands in this district has been blown into the gorse fences, or piled up against them. A house at Springburn was blown down. The mother, just before it fell, took her children out and sat on them to prevent their eudden disappearance in the gale. She was found In that position by soino neighbours, who kindly rendered every assistance. Our Elleßinere correspondent says: — On Monday night a regular old Nor'-wester of the worst kind passed over this district. The wind was the heaviest experienced for several years, aud lasted about four hours. Several trees were rooted completely out of the ground, hay and atruw stacks were blown all over the paddocks and fences. Mr Nixon, of Killinchy, had a small tworoomed cottage blown completely over. A similar experience befel one of Mr Alexander M'Lachlan'a outbuildings. Numerous chimneys throughout the district have been reported as blown over. On the dry, light land tho newlysown crops have also Buffered, the wind having carried the earth completely away. The storm had a mo3t drying effect on all kindß of land, and the subsequent rain is exceedingly welcome. At South Malvern the storm Bhook down chimneys and broke windows in all directions. Messrs Adama, Burkitt, Leemiug, and Wybb lost the roofß from Borne of their buildings. At Uororata the roof was blown off Mr Napier'a Hotel. TIMARCT. The strongest Nor*- west blow ever felt in Timaru broke upon the town at 7 p.m. on Monday, and for two hours and a half j the wind blew with great force and steadiness. The air was kect full of dense i clouds of dußt and sand and'flying rubbißh, and even good sized pebbles were flying about. In the stronger gusts, and in well-exposed places, i'o was quite impossible for a man to walk against the gale. Tho thick dust, the roar of the wind through the trees where these were met with, »nd the shriek of it about buildings made the storm a very " uncanny " one to be about in. One could neither see nor hear whatever might be flying at him. About 9.30 <» flhower came down and fcbe galo at once began to moderate. TMb morning a ramble round the town shows a large total of damage done, in small iteniß chiefly — breaches in paling and picket fences, portions of roofs etripptd off, old chimney tops broken off, hoardings levelled, and windows broken. Four of the hotels, eeveral shops, and a few private houees suffered in window glass, and in oDe case, the old South Canterbury Times' office, an upper window was blown in bodily, frame und all. Tho most aeriouß items of damage in town were the following : — A good sized stable of brick, belonging to Gilchrist and Howlinson, butchers, had its roof lifted and twisted off, the walls of course being much damaged also. At the Timaru MilJing Company's big mill, two large patches of roofing were carried away, iron and boarding both going, leaving only the principalo opposed to the heavy shower which fell aa" the wind abated. Men were soon at work getting tarpaulins over the gaps, and today p, strong force was buay restoring theroof. The Catholic Boys' School suffered a good deal. The wiud caught hold of the wide eaves, lifted the roof, r.ud then, from the inside apparently, ripped off nearly all the covering from one side. The Columbia Bink building, belonging to Mr Beckingham, was canted over, and would have gone altogether but for a prompt Bhoring up. Tho Hiitne Bteps were deemed advisable afc the drillsbed, broad Bemi-circular end was wobbling about like a sheet of paper, till it was strutted from within. These were tho chief direct reßults of the gale in town. An indirect result of importance was the burning of a cottage in Sandietown.' Mrs Lowe, the owner, went Out at 2.30 a.m. to eecuro some loote and rattling article — — tho wind still blowing, but not so strongly — when the lamp left on the table either burst or the wind upset it, and the result wag the total loss of the cottage and its contents. Jutt out of towu, tho S.C.A.A. Club's pavilion was unroofed, and also a cottage on Wai-iti road, tho occupants, named Nicholson, narrowly escaping injury. Many fiuo trees were uprooted in tho plantations along this road. One of the most Borious items yet reported was the total destruction of a fine brick Btable at Mr S. A. Bristol's homestead, a few miles oufc of town. The heavy lof fc, although loaded with oats, was lifted up and down till it battered down most of tne 'walls, and was then lifted up bodily aud carried two or throe chains. Mr Bristol considers from the destruction wrought in his neighbourhood, in the wreck of his stable and uprooting of trees, that tbe gale must have been much stronger there than at Timaru. The Upper Otaio school and Saltwater creek tannery are reported damaged, and the stand at . the Orari racecourse is down. The gale began at Fairlie creek at S p.m, but does not appear to have been so bad up there. No serious damage was done in the township or at Albury. The telegraph line to Albury is intact. The shelter shed at- Sutherland's flag Btation was unroofed. A chain or two of handrailing on the Tengawai bridge, Pleasant Point, was blown down. One or two small boats in the harbour were wrecked and others swamped. There waa only one vessel in port at tho time, and lying on the windward side of the Moody wharf she was simply jammed hard and fast against it, and held there without injury. The " oldest inhabitant" doeß not remember such a violent blow in Timaru, and it is fortunate that it did not last longer. Only one item of damage appears to have been done at tho Timaru Railway Station, and this (unless it waa struck by some flying fragment) indicates the force of the gale ; a semaphore arm South of the Atlas Mill waa blown off. A special mail train came from the North through, the gale, and the driver stated that tbe train was often enveloped in dust so dense that he could not see his mate, and not only could nob see ahead of his engine/but could not even see the head of it. Numbers of pebbles aa large as peas were picked up on the tender here. [Per Press Association.]

BLENHEIM, Sbpt. 11. It haa been raining very heavily up country' for the past two days, and the ,mer&4r&«Urhigb. " "