OTAGO.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 130, 10 July 1863, Page 6 (Supplement)

OTAGO.

The Gaxe at Queenstown. —We had occasion lately in several instances to congratulate ourselves on the magnificent weather, considering the lateness of the season, that we have been favored with in tliis district, and wo were all utterly unprepared for the gale which visited us with such destructive violence on Monday morning last. Sunday was particularly fine, with a warm bright sun and a gentle breeze, giving the Lake and hills an aspect strongly suggestive of an excursion. Towards evening, however, there were symptoms, to an experienced eye, of bad weather, but it was not until after midnight that there was any change calling for special notice, when the

wind rapidly increased till it blew a gale. It was quite warm and seemed to be from the north, but its true direction was so much disturbed by local causes that it was difficult to say with certainty from which point it came—chopping about from east to west with the greatest impartiality, and in sudden gusts. There soon might have been seen the aroused inhabitants in various stages of attire, assisted by their friends who had no tent of their own to attend to, endeavouring to hold down their tenements to the earth with ropes, or propping them up with poles, or strengthening the frail canvas by means of boards and battens. There was scarcely a man who was not holding on, tooth and nail, to his habitation, and hammers were going in every direction. Fortunately the moon shone brightly, and besides affording light to the workers seems to have proved an effective bar to the operation of the genus loafer. The fury of some of the blasts was almost incredible, and everything in their path, not of the strongest materials, was levelled with the ground. Panes of glass, sheets of corrugated iron and zinc, empty bottles, gravel, and stones were flying in all directions, with a running accompaniment of signs, boards, and strips of canvas. Almost the first sacrifice to Boreas was the skittle ground in Beach-street, the canvas ripping off with a report like that of a gun, and leaving the bare poles to brave the succeeding gusts. The Happing of canvas was something astonishing. A furious burst struck Thatcher’s Hotel, and “ cannoned” the Albion, reducing the former to a wreck, and cai-rying the roof of the latter clean off, besides doing minor damage, The roof of the All Nations Hotel was split, and the concert room of the Royal was likewise destroyed. While the gale was at its height, the new church after giving due notice of its intention, lost its roof, which now lies alongside. To detail half the damage done to the different stores would be tedious, but there is scarceley one in the town which has not suffered in a more or less degree. —Lake Wakatij} Mail , June 10.