English Extracts.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 14, 8 April 1867, Page 79

English Extracts.

F SEVERE SNOWSTORM. , (Froin the' Times, January 3!) ■ Yestebday there .was a heavy fall of snow ( in the metropolis, unlike any storm of the ’ kind-for years past iu the suddenness-with { -which it -came "on- arid the" depth to- 1 which 1 the snow fell in a few hours. The pre- 1 vious day had been extremely cold, and ! the change in that respect was the more 1 felt from the weather in London during ! the Christmas week having been unusually mild. . The intense cold of Tuesday con- ; tinued -throughout the following night, ac companied by drifting showers occasionally of thin snow, which scarcely coloured the ground, and it was not until about fife o’clock ,yesterday morning that, the snow began to fall heavily... It continued to do *o lor'some six-hours in succestidn)Aecoifir i pauied ;by. a piercing noi th -wind, which ] caused it to drift, and by noon it lay on i the ground all over London 1 and the - eubur.bs at an average depth of from six i to eight inches. The ordinary traffic of all i kinds was seriously interrupted in c-.»nse-j quence, and the trains upon the various i metropolitan lines of .railways were more ; or less delayed throughout the day. It was rare to see an ordinary cab, and-such , as. were visible were mostly drawn by two i Horses abreast or in tandem style, with a postilion improvised for the emergency; The omnibus traffic, was also to a considerable extent' suspended, and the river Steamed were laid by. Business of all kinds, to a consider a bte : exten t ; )wa3 interrupted, especially iu the city 3 nobody appeared to come - into town who could possibly help., it, and many, of those who attempted were delayed for hours beyond the ordinary time. The; trains. ' from the Victoria Station to London Bridge, via Sydenham; is particular, were out .of time throughout th«£/day: TnC "some cases as many as five .JEiours . were , occupied in the journey. - Altogether it was a, remarkable day, add' w ill' not soon- be forgotten. * The cold was not so great as on the previous day, the tail ofenow having teiap .red the ■'.air.;, .- , . "... ..... v ,.. The fall bf-shovf-has been very heavy i n Berks and Bucks. At daybreak the streets of Windsor-anl Eton were covered deeply •with sbow, : while the roofs'of the Castle towers and.'town buildings-were loaded. - About.B o’clock an easterly wind drove tne yet falling snow'into ridges, which, in some of the thoroughfares, were from 18in. to lift., in depth; -Few, passengers ventured into the streets, locomotion being impeded by the. masses of snow on the: pavement and roads, while,..the transit; of carriages ■was nearly stopped!! For several hours business 6eemied Spspended, while railway travellers experieneed,great.inconvenience; I'ho Great Western Railway, between indsor and Slough,-’ and the South Western line ; were covered deeply,; the trains baving much,difficulty in making their \ way aiongtheTails) which with the wheels / of the carxiages became clogged withsnow. * ' '-l]he engine, drivers and guards of the varioustrainasuffefedgreatlyffoihcordahd the blindingtanbwstoirm. down goods . train, which, leaves., Nine,; Elms about, five ~ in ' hot** reach . , Windsor:jtillAlibutilOb-clock, while-the 8 o’clock; passenger. trainfrcmWaterloodid Dbt arfif eaf Windßor till‘ 25 minutes past 10 o’clockj havipg-heeh hearly twb hours' and accomplishipg • .the distance/ . , was; aboutAOo’clobkrispoftedfb have been BtoPP O about foiir miles •, - from Xtnc :Windsor teimihiis. / Between 9 •' Eghan^idisfariQt, •< Hasp Bgaw;the «iow : V fltoimcaused sozae delay.

. TnWess!Si£fifey the changeof weather has -been.s.no - less sudden. - Sunday waß mild- and. geniaL : This; was the terihination of a seasbn so remarkable for its mfidriessV that,mhder its mfluencej- vegetatibhhad’assumedamostuhhaturalgrowth.; On'Mopday'.higlit ‘the'tebajperature became much, colder,' and-, a slight'quantity of ,Bubw fell. ** * During'-the; whole .of -Tuesday th'4 merctury. in. the barometer stood at a very, low figure, and host .set in sharply. At about 2 . o’clock yesterday .morning the wiiid shifted -to the east, and a - violent snowstorm succeeded, ' This continued without inter,mission until 2 o’clock in-the afternoon, while , the severity of the frost remained. unabated. So keen was the frost that on roofs , where the snow was melted ..-by the -heat of fires the; water was congealed in its progress, and hung in icicles from the water spout. Many of the couutry roads are quite impassable owing to the snow, which.in some places, has drifted to a .depth of from 8 ft. to 10 ft.,, and in severa. of the towns is over 2 ft. deep. All the railway trains have been greatly delayed!. The 7.5 a.m: train from London per Southwestern was two hours behind time, and this was the case with nearly all the: down trains throughout the day. : The delivery of letters per:mid-day post was thrown back from 12 o'clock till 2, and the same delay occurred with the evening post. The South Eeastem trains: from London were all from, three to four hours in arrear,' while from Reading they were even more behind. The 7.30 up from Portsmouth, which ought to reach Guildford at 9.18, was blocked; for . more than an hour, and did not arrive until nearly . 11.: Similar delay was experienced on the Winchester, line,, a formidable barrier of-snow being presented in some of the -deep cuttings. ' At Salisbury the fall : of snow hsis been unusually heavy;' On Monday and the day following there was; rather a severe frost, but towards midnighb on Tuesday it was succeeded by snow, : which has continued to fall in large flakes without intermission up to yesterday at noon. Locomotion was -to a great extent stopped, ihe snow being several feet:'deep. In places where it has .been drifted by the strong wind; which is blowing from the nbrth.it is very deep indeed, and the roads are quite "impassable. -