THE WINTER IN ENGLAND.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 64, 30 May 1877, Page 3

THE WINTER IN ENGLAND.

The London cori'espondent of the \ " Auckland Star "' says : — We have been having an awful winter. For the past two months the papers have daily contained a ghastly register of shipwi'ceks and drownings. The floods m England have been awful and universal, and no doubt Parliament will be called to legislate on some scheme for preventing extensive floods m future. As for wrecks, our coasts have been literally strewn with -the bodies of drowned seamen. t In one gale no less than 17 fishing smacks were lost out of Yarmouth and Lowestoft ; and if we put the number of hands at five each, which is below the mark, we have an awful result. There has been very little frost or snow, but 'endless wind and rain. Last week was wet and warm at the beginning, primroses' were opening, and every one thought he smelt spring. In twenty-four hours the ground was. a foot deep iv snow, and the thermometer registered 23 degrees of frost. This lasted' for t'.vo or three . days : and then — hey ! presto! just as the skates began to appear m the windows, down carae an awful gale of -wind, with torrents of rain and a balmy atmosphere, followed again two days ago by a northerly blow, with sleet and hail enough to skin one alive. Such is life m this lively old hulk of a country where only the fittest survive. I am rapidly becoming convinced that the reason' why the English have maintained" their reputation and , their stamina is, that sickly folks usually are carried off before they have time to ■ rep ro'd lice rtheir infirmities and only \h& tough and wiry attain a decent •age. . ' -