BLANKET OF FOG

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 111, 1 August 1927, Page 9

BLANKET OF FOG

CITY BLOTTED OUT SHIPPING DELAYED During the week-end Auckland was enveloped in a blanket of fog. It Hung over the city and the surrounding country like a pall, and was the heaviest experienced here for some years. this morning the Niagara, due in the harbour at 7 o’clock from Sydney waited off Tiri for the fog to lift. By noon she had not left the safety zone in the ocean. All Saturday night and again last night the fog horns in the harbour kept up their incessant wail of warning. Motorists warily traversed the city streets never knowing when another car would take shape out of the grey mass of fog at the intersections. Several smashes occurred and narrow escapes were frequent. The pall descended over the city early on Saturday evening soon after sunset. Sunday morning came with the fog still blotting out the city and the harbour. At midnight the fog was particularly heavy and it was almost impossible to see across the streets. Sunday continued grey and dull until the afternoon. Then, as evening drew on, the fog caTne down again. It lifted at midnight b»it came down again early this morning; Boats arriving in the harbour were all delayed yesterday and again to-day. The Tamaroa did not arrive until yesterday afternoon. Despite its disadvantages the fog made beautiful pictures of the city and, the harbour. Figures loomed up nebulously out of mist, took shape and disappeared again. Harsh outlines of houses were softened in the veil and trees took on the shape of mysterious, mythological figures. As the mist lifted from the harbour, leaving it smooth as polished steel, the distant hulks regained some of their former glory. Sailing boats glided behind fussy launches, their sails scarcely moving. North Shore appeared ghostily from the retreating log and soon Mt. Victoria with its sentinel pines, took definite form against a clearer sky.