AUSTRALIA SWELTERS

Chronicle (Levin), 30 December 1949, Page 5

AUSTRALIA SWELTERS

(N.Z.P.A.-

Reuter .

Four People Dead And Many Coli'apse

CovuriahU

Received Friday, 11.45 a.m. SYDNEY, Dec. 30. The heat wave ' continues in the three eastern Australian States. In western New South Wales nearly every town recorded tempsratures in excess of 100 degrees yesterday and Brewarrina touched 118 degrees. " ' . . Four people have died and many others cofiapsed in the savage heat. They occurred at Broken Hill where the temperature was. 108 degrees on Tuesday and 102 degrees yesterday. Three of the victims were men between the ages of 40 and 50 years. • The ocher was a seven-months-old boy, who died of sunstroke. The water position at Ivanhoe and Bourke where a number of people eollapsed, is serious. In west Queensland three towns registered 114 degrees, the highest temperature since 1947. Bush fires killed 400 sheep and swept 4000 acres of grass and timber • land. In the southern portioh of Australia the heat- wave is assuming record proportions. Yesterday Maree recorded 118 degrees— its seventh successive temperature over the century and the hottest the town has ever had. Oodiiadatta registered 116. Adelaide was the hottest State eapital with a maximum of 94.6 degrees.