COLONIAL INTELLIGENCE. GREAT STORM AND LOSS OF LIFE AND PROPERTY AT MELBOURNE. (Abridged from the Melbourne Papers.)

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 461, 2 January 1850, Page 3

COLONIAL INTELLIGENCE. GREAT STORM AND LOSS OF LIFE AND PROPERTY AT MELBOURNE. (Abridged from the Melbourne Papers.)

On Sunday, November 26, during the forenoon, the temperature of the atmosphere around Melbourne was oppressive in the extreme ; towards noon a cool breeze sprung up from the south-west, and as evening approached the sky became overcast and gloomy. On the Monda y the gathering cionds gave indication of what was approaching, first in the form of drizzling raiu, and subsequently in heavy torrents, which continued all night, the wind at the same time freshening into a heavy gale. On Tuesday morning the gale and bad weather still continued, the barometer sinking to 29*. The streets presented a curious spectacle, most of them being traversed with streams 18 or 20 feet broad, and from three to four feet deep. Almost a]] the shops were closed, and such was the fury of the elements that scarcely a house in the city had a room in it that was perfectly dry. In the police office, which was a substantial stone building, the effect of the weather was perreptible along the ceiling and down the walls, which in some places appeared saturated with lain. There was a very great amount of damage done — a house in La 1 robe street was levelled by the wind on Monday night. The family, who were in bed, providentially escaped unhurt. The storm continued great part of the following day, and the Yarra Yarra rose to an unprecedented height, and as the bank of the river opposite to Melbourne is low, there was an immense loss of properly. Messrs. Philpotts sustained a. severe loss, by having upwards of 2000 sheep destroyed by the watery element. A man was found dead, whether from exposure to the inclemency ot the weather, or otherwise, has not transpired, near Major Davidson's. Main's bridge wa> nearly swept away, after having the brunt of six winters and perdaps as many inundations. Two men here lost iheir lives ; the body of one has been found. The water at the wharf had risen so high as- to make a clean sweep through Mrs. Shanks', Mr. Pittman's, and the adjacent premises. In Mrs. Shanks 1 it was even with the counter, and ingress or egress to the premises was forced to be had though the. upper windows by boats. The destruction to property must have been immense — as bullocks, sheep, ducks, hens, casks of tallow, and other more or less valuable articles are floating about at the butt of Battman's hill in indiscriminate disorder. Messrs. Jackson & Rte lost about twenty balei of wool ; and a large quantity of sugar belonging to Mr. ,O. Brown, and lying at Colts' wharf, has been completely destroyed. The people resident at the Swamp lost, some of them almost all they possessed — and others very seriously, by the sudden rising of the river. .Burcheu's tannery was, we hear, nearly all destroyed — the buildings are all down ; the damage done to the property is estimated at £3000. Mr. Murphy, the brewer, lost much property, and suffered to the amount of £2000. On the Salt Water River, also, great damage has been sustained, Jn the country districti the damage was also considerable. A brickmaker residing near Richmond was missing, supposed to have been drowned. The punt belonging to Mr. Lynch, of the Rising Sun, at the Salt Water River, has been sunk through the violence of tbe i}ood ; and several bead of cattle and a large number of sheep have perished along

both sides of the Salt W ater Riv.-i. In t!«e locality ot the Deep Creek the vehemence of tht rushing torrent was fearful, and two men fell victims to it ; others are supposed to have shared the same fate, but two of the hapless individuals are identified as lost. One of these is named Brace, and the other Chips. Mr. Brodie, settler on the Deep Creek, lost 400 sheep, and the man in charge of them is misting, and is supposed to be drowned. A bullock driver, with his team laden with wool, passing a small creek near Kellor, the dray capsized into it, and the bullocks by some chance breaking the pole escaped drowning, the driver is missing, and is supposed to have been drowned. Several accidents happened near Main's bridge, where it is thought more than one will prove fatal. On Tuesday evening seven men left the Flemingion Hotel to cross over, but three of them very prudently returned ; the four however went on, and one of them was drowned. In the height of the floods on Tuesday evening several persons in the employment of the Messrs. Philpott, Brothers, at their boiling down establishment, rushed from the spot to effect their escape ; one of them (a young man named Wade) was subsequently missed, and his dead body was yesterday found near Main's bridge. Informa- 1 tion vras received by the chief constable Bloomfield that the body of another man was found netr Main's bridge ; it was covered with bags and was not identified : a constable was immediately despatched to bring it into town. It was estimated that about 200 pigs had perished from the swamps in the city. A house containing three pigs was carried off from the South Yarra and literally sailed down the river towards the bay, and has not since been beard of. The body of a butcher boy named Burues, drowned on Tuesday evening* at Main's bridge, has been found ; he bad a mother and sister to support. Mr. Kells, the i oat builder, is a severe sufferer, having lost a number of pigs ; Mr. Barry's tannery was also stripped of much property. It is singular that with few exceptions little or no rain has fallen in the country districts ; a gentleman from Macedon, in town yesterday, declares his astonishmeut at what he saw, inasmuch as there have been no symptoms of rain in his neighbourhood for some time. The beach, from a mile above Liardet's to St. Kilda, was strewed with casks of tallow, empty casks, boxes of candles, posts and rails, furniture, scantling, and many articles of value Iwhich had evidently been washed down by the fresh in the river, and thrown upon the beach by the violence of the gale. Mr. Collyer, of Mount Aitken, lost at least 1400 sheep from wet and cold, and Mr. Aitken is also, we learn, a severe sufferer. Messrs. Wedge have lost 3000 sheep, and between Keilor, tho Ex, and Wrights, no less than 5000 sheep are known to have perished. Mr^Ynille, of the Werriby, was also a severe sifferer, having lost all his rams — 400. Mr. Staughton, in the same neighbourhood, is repotted to have lost about 6000 sheep, and a Mr. Pinkerton, who had arrived in Melbourne, said it was really lamentable to see the roadside lined with dead carcases of sheep huddled in heaps of from 400 to 500 each, all having perished from cold and wet, being recently shorn. Messrs. Learmouth had the mortification of witnessing 1500 of their sheep drowning in the Werriby without being .able to render the slightest assistance. The accounts of the destruction of property along the Moonee Ponds and Merri Creek are fearful. Not a farm but was fenceless, and the crops are some destroyed, and mostly all damaged. Hundreds of loads of wood are deposited on Captain Hutton's farm, and his garden, all under water, is much injured, all the luxuriant apple and fruit trees being destroyed. Mr. Bullen has also lost much, and a portion of his farm is embedded many feet in mud from the deposits of yesterday. Several horsemen were detained, at the other side of the Merri Creek in consequence of the impossibility of crossing ; and Mr. William Pender, in swimming his horse ever, had an extremely narrow escape. The flood in the creek was eight feet higher than upon any previous occurrence of a similar nature. And it is supposed that a sudden change in the temperature must have melted the snow on the Gipps Land mountains. Captain Pearson, Fountain Head, Sydney Road, has lost 200 sheep, and 400 lambs, the latter having perished through cold, and it was estimated (said the Melbourne Herald) by excellent judges that no less than 50,000 sheep have been or would be destroyed by the late storm. The Weather, &c. — The past winter has been the mildest and most favourable for sheep ever known on the river. The floods i came in May, when they could do no pos- ! sible injury to the flocks, although the ; iver 1 rose higher than the oldest inhabitants could 1 remember its having done before ; it rose i thirty-six feet in height, and placed the in- i habitants of the court-house and lock-up, 1 which were insulated, in jeopardy ; the per- j sons inside were compelled to break a hole '. in the roof of the latter place, and roost t

like turkeys on the ridge-pole for one nii^ht. The court-house has now a slight list to starboard, the door and window being out of the perpendicular, and refusing to shut without force being applied. Another such floodiwould carry it away. Indeed, the loss to the district would not be severe, for there has been but one case for adjudication within the last ten months. Our gardens have recently received some very rough treatment ; in the midst of a very hot day (Thursday, the 15th ultimo) a tremendous shower of hail came on, the stones being larger than gooseberries, and beating to the ground melons, pumpkins, potatoes, and all tender plants, and making the stronger ones look rough and ragged, the leaves pierced in a thousand places. — Maitland Mercury's Clarence River Correspondent.