THE STORM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1054, 19 January 1884, Page 2

THE STORM.

The storm which passed over this district on Thursday last will long be remembered as the most disastrous occurrence fdr many years. Many farmers who were buoyed up by the promising prospects of a good harvest have now to lament the almost total destruction of their crops. Indeed, nobody who has not visited those parts of the county where the storm was at its worst caff possibly realise the effect caused by an hour or two of bad weatnelJ. The course of the storm through the Ashburton Forks is very clearly marked, and a paddock can bo seen where the crop has been rendered valueless, while an adjoining field kas escaped uninjured. The hail-

stones that, foil are described as of phenomenal size, some being at large as walnuts and they came down with a force that was irresistible. Any windows that were exposed were smashed, and wo hear that the stones wenufeclean through a corrugated iron roof of a house on the Anama Es ate. Of the Forks farmers, Mr Frisby is probably the heaviest loser. His crop wat an excellent one, but it is estimated that his loss will amount to something like 2 000 bushels of wheat, while his other cereals have suffered proportionately. Of close on 300 acres, over which the fury of the storm has passed, it will be impossible to drive a reaping machine over scarcely a single acre. Tn the case of green crops the hail has out the stalks, while with riper grain it is no exaggeration to say that it would be almost impossible to tell now what had been sown. Messrs Corsbie, Green, Monson, Sargent, Mclntyre, Pearce and Knox are all heavy sufferers. Mr Monson has lost something like 90 acres of wheat, which promised an unusually good yield, and Mr Knox informs us that his loss is very great, especially in the barley crop. A proof of the virulence of the storm can be seen in a paddock of oats a litrle distance this side of the Greenstreet ■ohool. Part of this crop had been cut, and now the'rest is utterly destroyed and looks as if an inferior machine had been at work there, a stray stalk only appearing here and there. Nor has the fruit been spared, as was evidenced by somt? specimens brought to town yesterday, which had borne the brunt of the weather, the hailstones having literally mangled them to pieces. There can he no doubt that this terrible storm has inflicted such injury as will take two or three years to recover from, and wo fear that in some instances it means almost absolute ruin. Such a tern pest has never been known by the oldest inhabitant, and it is to be feared that the full extent of the damage done has not yet been realised.