STORMS IN THE SOUTH.

Gisborne Times, Volume X, Issue 943, 16 July 1903, Page 3

STORMS IN THE SOUTH.

A TRAIN BLOCKED.

DEATH FROM EXPOSURE.

(Per Press Association.^ Timaru, last night, xho evening train to Fairlie yesterday reaohed Oricklewood at 8 p.m,, but could get no further on account of the Bnow frozen on the line. There were 12 passengars in the train, throe being women. A trolly came to Timaru at 1 a.m. for assistance, and a'n engine was sent up, taking food and blankets for the passengers, who would arrive at 8 a.m. There was a very sharp frost here last night. Ashburton, last night. A. Finlayson died last night as the result of exposure on Saturday last while attempting to cross the Ashburton river, , which was greatly swollen, in company with his son, aged 18. The trap was capsized, and he was washed down stream, but was rescued from drowning by his son, the former being unconscious. Young Finlayson left his father amoDg the snow on the bank of the river, and walked. tbree miles for assistance. Finlayson was aged ■464. He never recovered from the shock and exposure, and died last night.

The snowstorm nearly caused a collision at Ashburton on Saturday morning. The Christchurch train "arrived at the usual time, simultaneously with the train from Timaru—which was ' late. The drivers could not see the signals on account of the densely-falling snow. The stationmaster sent porters in either direction to give warning, but the trains .were only separated by two yards .when they had come to a standstill at the station. , ' In . Timaru the fall of snow was the heaviest seen for many .years. The .weight of snow, on the telegraph lines quickly broke them, , and they

[were to be seen in every direction, Jying about-the roads in a . tangied mass. Many telegraph poles snapped * like carrots under the weight of the snow. Telephone communication al- * so was destroyed, and business in Timaru was for the time suspended.

A telegraph pole fell on a diay as a carter was driving past, falling, within a few. inches of the man's head and the wires tangling about his ears. Fortunately, he escaped with a few cuts. At the same instant, a second telegraph post snapped off on the opposite side of the road, and the man had some difficulty in disentangling himself and his horse and trap from the falling debris. The boys, and many, adults also, made / a gala day of it, spending the afternoon in snowballing. Some few i shop windows were broken and also glass verandahs,’ the lat'tei breaking through by the weight of tlie snow on the roofs.

At Fairleigh there was nearly 20 inches of snow, and the train from Fairleigh was some hours late in arriving, having to plough its way through. -■ TVhen the snowballing process became irksome, to some of tlie drivers in tradesmen’s vehicles, reports the Timaru Post, they resorted to a device which effectually, secured them from being further molested. What they did was to secure a box of eggs, the only virtue of which was in their extreme old age,, and not wishing to take anything for nothing, they gave a forceful and telling, not. to say. smelling, exchange of eggs for snow, much to the disapprobation of the snowballers.j ■ '