THE WEATHER.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 136, 18 June 1872, Page 6

THE WEATHER.

The heaviest fall of snow that has taken place for a considerable period in Cionnvell occurred on the morning of Friday last. When the town awoke it was to find that some six inches of snow lay on the ground. There was no fall after daylight, and we are told that it did not begin until at least three o'clock a.m. ; so that, while it lasted, the fall must have been very heavy. During the whole of Friday morning, many of the townspeople carried on the " good old sport" of snowballing ; those who affect u belltoppers" found it convenient to leave them at home, and wear some " lower" covering for a time ; and to make one's way up the street as far as the Post-office required a considerable deal of wary navigation. In the afternoon, the sun came out, but had strength enough to melt only a very little of the snow. A very hard frost succeeded on Friday night, which had the effect of freezing over the dams and water-races throughout the district. The sluicers therefore have had to stop work, and Cromwell's streets on Saturday afternoon presented an unusually busy aspect, from the numbers who had ' : come to town" on their enforced holiday. Again on Saturday, the sun had no effect on the frozen snow ; and at night the frost was unprecedentedly severe. On Sunday many availed themselves of the chance afforded for skating on the dams. A bitterly cold wind prevailed throughout Sunday night, and was succeeded by a heavy downpour of rain, which lasted for several hours. Since then the weather has continued unsettled, with little appearance of any change for the better. The snow is gradually disappearing from the flat ; but the hills have received an extra coat since yesterday morning. Some idea of the great quantity of snow there must be on the high lands may be gathered from the fact that on Thursday it lay eight inches deep as far down as the Arrow Bluff, —delaying MiHenry's mail coach from Queenstown to such an extent that he did not pass through Cromwell until seven in the evening, in stead of four as usual. This late travelling led to the accident whereby the coach, one of the horses, and some of the mails were lost in the Molyneux river ; an account of which is given in another col mini. We understand that the crushing-ma-chines in the Carrick district are all at a stand-still in consequence of the waterraces being frozen up ; and many of the alluvial mines throughout the district are still off work owing to the continued severity of the weather.

From our exchanges we notice that during the whole of last week, severe weather has been experienced pretty generally throughout the Province. Tn Dunedin, during Wednesday and Thursday, snow fell, and sharp frost, high and biting winds, and occasional hail squalls are reported to have prevailed. At Invercargill the fall of snow has not been equalled for the last fifteen veal's. The local paper of Thursday morning last reports that in Lawrence snow began to descend at eight p.m. on Monday, and continued until eleven o'clock a.m. next day,—being the heaviest fall known there for the last eight years. The cold was most intense. Early on Wednesday, the snow began again, and up to the time of their writing, there was no appearance of a break in the weather. Their Waitahuna correspondent also chronicles " a mantle of snow several inches thick." The coach between Tokomairivo and Lawrence met with an accident on Tuesday afternoon, when half-way down the declivity near Ilavelock. We quote from the same paper:—" 3lr Pope, the driver, considered it imprudent to proceed further, as the frozen snow rendered the footing of the horses unsafe. He turned the horses back up the hill, And immediately on doing so one of the fore reins broke. The team then became unmanageable, and commenced galloping round in a circle on the point of the spur. After they had careered round for a short time the coach fell into an abandoned paddock and capsized, throwing out the occupants —four ladies and the driver. One of ihe ladies—Mrs Uren—-was severely shaken and bruised, and it was at first thought her arm was broken, but this was not the case. The other ladies, beyond the fright, sustained no injury. j\[r Pope was thrown a distance of several yards, but he also escaped injury."