IN THE GRIP OF WINTER

Wairarapa Daily Times, 3 January 1928, Page 5

IN THE GRIP OF WINTER

ENGLAND SNOWBOUND. . ii.. . A NEW DEVELOPMENT. Press Association-Electric Telearaph-Copyright LONDON, Saturday. All England is still snow and frostbound. The country has been in this condition for the longest period this century. A new development which Avas not expected is that food prices are rising. Dig increases have occurred in Govent Garden, where vegetables are Aery scarce. Farmers generally are unable to gather them, and where they are gdthcrablc they cannot be got to market except at extraordinary cost. For instance, Brussels sprouts, which were 4d a pound before Christmas, are uoav a shilling, when obtainable. Coal is fast becoming dearer, merchants having difficulty in obtaining supplies owing to the state of the roads and railways holding np Avaggons. The River Stour, in Kent, is frozen. Tlie waterways and docks in Richborough have been turned into icefields. A motor car dug out of snowdrifts in Llanfreshfa, after great efforts, proved to be a stolen car, for Avliich the police had searched for two days. Six aeroplanes are leaA’ing London carrying provisions- for A’arious beleaguered villages in Surrey, Kent and Somerset. People in isolated houses have been told by Avircless to mark a circle oil the snow with dark clothes if food is needed, when it. will be dropped by parachute. A GENERAL THAW. LONDON, Sunday. A general ili.w has set in'throughout England for the New Y'ear, after the country had been snowbound for a Aveek. Experts are unable to say Avhcn the deepest snow-drifts Avill melt. It may not bo for Avceks. Many homes are in danger of destruction OAving to the nioA'cment of tons of suoav. Up to to-night numerous villages are still cut off. Skiing parties A’isited one or two hamlets in Kent and found the inhabitants on the verge of starvation, and tears came into their eyes when they received relief proA'isious.

It is feared that serious floods Avill result in some districts, as tiie rivers arc dangerously swollen. —A.P.A. and “Sun.” DEATHS IN AMERICA. NEW YORK, Saturday. From the Rocky Mountains to Chicago the country is gripped in a heavy snoAVstorm and a cold Avave which, at Calgary, registered 33 degrees ibcloAV zero, at Duluth 32, and at St. Paul 14. Four people are dead in Chicago and several deaths are reported from Indiana, loiva, Minnesota and adjoining States, due to freezing. One person Avas killed and several injured in train collisions during the snowstorms. The official weather forecast indicates that even the Avcstern coast Avill be subjected to a protracted cold spell, Avith freezing temperatures in Washington and Oregon, and unusual cold in •California, accompanied by rains. The Canadian North-West is expected as usual to be subject to the lowest temperatures,. Avhile ei*en the Gulf States. through to the north-west Florida coast, avi 11 more or less suffer. The Avcather in Ncav York is uoav mild, but a rising Avind is blowing and forecast indicates a zero temperature Avithin a feAV hours, and heavy snowstorms. Several collisions occurred in New York harbour, amongst Avliich the liner President Hayes collided Avith the freighter Taranti.