HEAVY STOCK LOSSES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 24, 28 July 1939, Page 4

HEAVY STOCK LOSSES

BANKS PENINSULA

SNOW TWENTY FEET DEEP

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

CHRISTCHURCH. July 27.

It will be many days before farmers on Banks Peninsula can obtain even a rough idea of the heavy losses of stock caused by this week's snowfall, and it will &c nearly a week before th^ drifts which have obliterated roads and fences under 20 feet and more of snow can be cleared away.

The plight of Peninsula farmers, and the difficulties of those* who have the task of restoring road communications in the district, wer= made apparent to reporters and photographers who motored to Little River today and tramped from there, to Hill Top— the first party to reach there from the city for three days. ■ After a .temporary, improvement in the weather this naorn-ing. the peninsula was swept again by a south-west gale in the afternoon. Fortunately for those farmers who had the unpleasant tasks of carrying feed to stock and retrieving snowbound sheep, there was no further snowfall during the day, but this evening heavy hail and sleet

showers made the outlook far from promising.

Snow, of course, is no new experience to farmers on the Peninsula, but few falls have been heavier than this and never before have they been accompanied by a gale of such severity. The wind has had the effect of sweeping exposed ridges and spurs almost clear*of snow and of piling it up in deera drifts in hollows and valleys and in areas sheltered from the wind. Sheep and cattle seeking protection from the gale naturally gravitated to these sheltered areas, where the snow was piled most thickly, and it is feared that for this reason losses of stock will be even heavier than might be expected in such a snowfall. Because of the lack of feed over a great part of the season, the stock are not in good condition to withstand the rigours of the wind and cold and the soft, deep snow. Many farmers in the Little River Valley were out snowraking today, but this cannot be undertaken effectively until the drifts have thawed.

Packhorses and sledges will be used extensively to carry fodder to stock.

Although there has been a substantial thaw in the lower levels of the Little River Valley, the snow was "holding" on the higher hills. The vagaries of the gale are demonstrated impressively in many places. On the road to Hill Top from Little River, and again on the road down to Akaroa, wherever the configuration of the hills gives some shelter from the wind, snow has piled in huge banks. Roads and fences have been obliterated for chains, and at other points huge banks of snow tower far above the roadway.