OPPRESSIVE HEAT IN CHRISTCHURCH. CHRISTCHURCH, March 27

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 41

OPPRESSIVE HEAT IN CHRISTCHURCH. CHRISTCHURCH, March 27

Christchurch was .visited yesterday by j oppresively hot weather, the highest reading of . the thermometer (83.3deg\ in the j shade at 1.15 p.m.) marking one of the hottest days experienced this summer. For the last week" the weather has been delightfully mild, and yesterday's change' was unwelcome. The air was close all through the evening. A few drops of rain fell in the middle of the day, but the fall was j extremely small. * There was a lightj shower of rain from the north-west over some parts of North Canterbury yesterday, lasting about half an hour. The clouds, however, quickly dispersed, and atmosphere became hotter than before. With the exception of a slight sprinkling on the night of February 16, the amount being quite insignificant, no rain fell near the seaboard in North Canterbury during Feb- j ruary. •> The heat and want of rain' during the early part of the month has intensified the drought so much that fears are now entertained that the water supply for ordinary purposes will not be maintained. At Rangiora some of the springs in the lower part of the borough have ceased to ! flow, and others are getting very low. ' Water in the welle in the upper part of the town will, if the dry weather continues much longer, be beyond the lifting power ! or ordinary pumps, as the water; is now i receding at the rate of three or four inches a day. Scores of pump pipes have already given _put. The amount of rainfall during February in the preceding five years registered at Rangiora was: 1903, .044 in; 1904, 2.11 in; 1905, 2.65 in; 1906, .648 in: and 1907, ' 1.708 in. | Respecting the question of the driest , season experienced in Canterbury, old settler* declare that it occurred in 1862-63. At that time no rain, except a light shower at Christmas, fell from October to May, and the Ashley River was dry for a- lone reach for about six months. Although live stock were uot very numerous at that timey feed was so scarce that sheep, especially on the Sprinffbank and other runs, wero almost starved. At the present timo the Ashley River for about two miles "east and west of the railway bridge is completely ', dry. As yet Christehurch'-s water supply '•for domestic- purposes is in no wav affected, being artesian and abundant. Mid Canterbury is not so well off, but no absolute scarcity is reported anywhere. Farmers are greatest sufferers by the drought, winteij feed in most places being now | hopeless. " , We have received the followine from the Moa Flat Settlement : — Splendid rain set in from the south-west on Sunday eveniajf, and at the timo of writiner (6 a.m. "on Monday) it is still raining. The rain w3l prove of immense value to' root crops-. . Harvesting operations will be at a stand- I stiH for" sever*! dava. {