TO-DAYS GALE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 809, 15 November 1878, Page 2

TO-DAYS GALE.

Oamaru was to-day visited by a gale such •; has never been known to have previously here—at all events, since the advent ji' Europ.-aus. Ft started at an carly ';our to is. ico'-iihig and blew with great .V.ry iiil shortly b' fore noon, towards vhic-h hour it gradually abated in force. Numerous casualties, peculiar to such oc.■asie ;., occurred, more or less serious. As ■ iciiry Mantel!, a son of Mrs. Xeiison, of -ho < '■-oin.-K-jvi.i.l I'oardimc-iwuse, who was •working for Mr. Hook, plasterer, at the imrovci;.cnts just bcier: completed at tiie Emire Hotel, was carrying a large plasterer's Card i;:to the f-idc-door of the hotel a gust ■>f wind threw him over, and the board failng o:i his leg, fractured it immediately ■cut for, and. being i f :■.!■•':ly on the spot, set ho lei; successfully, and the su'd'orer, who had in the nvaulime been carried into the Notch was al'Kr the operation removed to lis mother's i;i.;:ve. where, we understand, :■•;; is L'oiuc: 0:1 favorably. A particulariY dronggust lifted a shed' on J >i-T Garland's e'Onerry into the air and depo-ited it in

;Vr":mci!cs on to the roof of i\lr. Forrester, in Wharf-street, fortunately not doing much damage. The parapet surmounting Yv'aitaU! Mouse was bbwn on to the roof of the building. A portion of the unfinished roo: >f Mr. Shenu.ufs new building, situated or. the top of tha hill near the South School, was carried away as lightly as a sheet of •laper, and landed a cousidera! l e distance from the house. One of Mr .Uowkvnd's workmen employed at this building had his leg broken at the same time. Tiie windows of Messrs. ilule and K'-vmody, tliO.se of the r.ew Tecs .street Hail, and some of the skylights ■if the Star and Garter Hotel were blown out. The train from V\'aiareka stood a _'ood chance of being Mown oiY the rails >\hen near Ekters'ie. There were numerous other narrow escapes from casualties, and it is a miracle that more serious damage was not done. The iesser evils concomitant with heavy gales were, plentiful enough. At one time it was almost impossible to walk through the streets on account of the force of the wind, which threatened to blow one's clothes into ribbons, and the unpleasantness of getting one's eyes full of dust suggested co not a few- the wisdom of protecting those very useful members by goggles. The doors of the places of business wcro almost without exception kept closed, but notwithstanding this precaution the wares in those places were thick with dust.

Since writing the .above we have ascertained that one of the windows of the Imperial Hotel was blown clean out. The frame-work of LVfr, Ottcivon's new house, situate near the Show Ground, has a decidedly intoxicated appearance. Innumerable oilier shop windows came to grief.