GENERAL ITEMS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 155, 20 March 1918, Page 6

GENERAL ITEMS

IN THE WAKE OP EIRE AND STORM. A remarkably high tiflo.was experienced in Wellington yesterday, aud with the galo did some damage. At Evans Bay a yacht was blown ashore and two batliing platforms erected by tlio Evans Bay Swimming Club were washed off their foundations. The sea washed ever tho tram rails in the, vicinity of Kilbirnie l'ost Office. "

It is reported hero that fierce bush fires are raging from Ohakurie to • Owhango,. says a Press Association telegram from Taumarunui. Tho Horopito mill and twenty houses are said to hare been: destroyed. Tho Auckland-Wellington express was held up at Horopito. It is reported that Raetihi has been turned out, and that some lives have been lost. The fire is burning from Raetihi to Ranga'taua. The (roods train arriving at Taumaritnui at six o'clock this morning had great difficulty in getting through from Ohakune to Horopito. All telephone lines are down, and no authentic information is to bo got at present A Press Association telegram from Hamilton states that a violent gale was raging yesterday, and did considerable, damage.

A strong gale raged over Napier about 4 o'clock yesterday morning, but no damage is reported. To-day the wind died down, but hot and oppressive weather prevailed. There are no bush fires in Hawke's Bay.— Pross /

Thero are five big viaducts to be crossed in the mountain section of the Main Trunk line, and of the five the fire, descended upon the smallest—the Taonui Viaduct—which is interesting from an engineering standpoint, as it has a bend. The size of tho various viaducts are as follow:— Height. Length, ft. ,ft. Makohine 237 750 Mangaweka 155 943 Hapfiwhenua 147 ' 932 . Taomii 110 , 390 Makatote 260 860 The Taonui Viaduct is constructed on the steel plate and lattice girder principle, with steel and concrete piers and concrete abutments. , The fact that smoke could travel such a distance as 200 miles in a' galo in such density as was the case yesterday morniug was a topic of general conversation. The reason tho smoke could travel such an immense distance was due in a great measure to the iow barometrical pressure. In connection with the fire and galo it might be mentioned as an item of interest that at 2 a.m. yesterday the atmosphere was practically still, and the, air Was cool and fresh, with no taint of smoke. At 3 p.m. yesterday Mr. Talbot, Superintendent of Telegraphs, reported that communication had been lost with Wanganui and Palmerston North. The Christchurch lines were working badly, and it was anticipated that there might be complete interruption of the linos in that part of the country. There was quite a big accumulation of messages at the Telegraph Office. "The conditions from our point of view, said ./ilr. Talbot, "are the worst we have experienced for forty years."

On the subject of the. weather, Mr. D. C. Bates, Dominion Meteorologist, states that the cyclone, which he had forecasted, struck the north with great force on Monday evening, and there was a very striking fall in the aneroid hap ometer. The reading at noon on Monday was 29.87, and at noon yesterday 28.93—a fall of practically an incl}, a very heavy drop ndeed. The cause of it was owing to the centre of the cyclone travelling from the tropics and approaching Cook Strait. The lowest reading of the barometer reported in New Zealand at 9 a.m. yesterday was at Westport, 28.67. This is not a record, the minimum recorded being on March G, 1871, a reading of 28.586. During Monday night there was an absence of wind, but 66 points cf rain fell. From 8 p.m. on Monday until 5 a.m. yesterday there was hardly a breath of wind in Wellington. At this latter hour the wind sprang up suddenly, and between 7 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. blew fiercely and gustily, reaching a velocity of forty miles per hour. The wind brought with it the acrid, pungent smell of burn ; ng wood. The unusual colour of the sky beforo dawn—a dark green, changing to a lighter lemon colour, and accompanied by haze and mist, was due to the smoke and steam from the fires spreading from the upper north-west current, and in this connection it is interesting to note that usually, no, matter in what direction the wind on the surface is blowing, up aloft it is travelling from west to east. The light of the dawn struck this upper strata before it reached the surface lower down, and cut off the blue rays. So.the greenish tinge of the sky before dawn was occasioned.