THE WEATHER

Hokitika Guardian, 21 December 1927, Page 2

THE WEATHER

'Australian & N.Z. Cable Association.) SNOW AND FROST. LONDON, Dec. 19. Indications are that England’s present .snow and frost-bound condition will establish a record over many years. Heavy falls are continuing in most places, and there are instances of railway points being frozen up, and hindering traffic. Road traffic is seriously impeded. lee breakers were used for the first time for years on many London Canals, which were covered to a depth of 3 or 4 inches. Early this morning a fire at Mielielhain Priory"an eleventh century building now used as a private residence, provided the weirdest spectacle. The water from the hoses formed icicles on the building, the firemen’s uniforms were frozen stiff and the engines, had to cense pumping periodically, owing to the intakes freezing.

STRANGE SCENES IN PARIS. LONDON, Dec. 19. In Paris the intensity of the cold is increasing. A number of deaths as a result of the cold, are reported in France, including four in Paris. Two hundred and fifty out of a thousand telegraph lilies in Paris have swapped. Many of the smaller rivers in France are frozen and blocks of ice are appearing in the Seine. The excessive cold also caused an iron bridge to contract so that the wooden paving blocks were forced up, and as the result several bridges are impassable. The strangest of scenes were witnessed in the Parisian underworld, at the police station, where they were served with soup and coffee, instead of being charged as outcasts. The wrecks of humanity were most reluctant to obey, hut finally were overjoyed at their reception from their old time enemies. Some burst into tears at the unexpected hospitality.