EUROPEAN WINTER

Hokitika Guardian, 15 December 1933, Page 5

EUROPEAN WINTER

BLIZZARD DEATHS

STORM THROUGHOUT CONTINENT.

•United Press Association—By Eleetrio

Telegraph—Copyright)

LONDON, December 14

There are reports of intense cold from all parts of the 'Continent. In •V-fjuice there is e : ghieon finches of snow. The city of Trieste hag experienced a blizzard.

In Poland several people were frozen to death. In Switzerland snow js ■falling heavily. In northern France hundreds of miles of the canals are frozen. In Vienna the. cake .at a wedding party was broken with an axe. The guests thawed portions of it by the fire.

GALE 'SWEEP-3 BRITISH COASTS

DISORGANISATION OF- SHIPPING

RUGBY. December 13

The fiercest gale this winter swept the British coasts to-day, being particularly severe in the English Channel. Some cross channel boats were diverted from Dover to Calais. Sailings were curtailed. Those crossing experienced the roughest weather this winter. Lifeboats around the coasts had many calls.

Some anxiety for a time was felt for the large Finnish-owned four-masted barque Lawhill, which left London last week for Australia.. Off Deal the Lawhiill dropped anchors, and held her position lOOycls off the shore until a Dover tug towed her clear. The cross Channel cargo service was cancelled. Several fishing boats are overdue.

FIRE AT AJ WELSH ASYLUM.

PATIENTS LIVES ENDANGERED

LONDON, December 14

One thousand patients in a Glamorgan mental hospital at Bridgend were endangered by a fire -at midnight, which destroyed the administrative block, 'including all of the records. A block tower collapsed. 'Severn: firemen were injured. The water ,froz e when leaving the hoses, and the ground become a shea; of. : ice. The staff marshalled the patients in the farthest block.

Driven by a high wind, .a fire wiped out seven -houses iin the village of Winslow, The firemen were handicapped by a scarcity of water, which froze as it left the hoses.

The Thames -water supply is seriously depleted, following a dry summer. Many village^-are being rationed.