A WHITE WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 July 1918, Page 6

A WHITE WORLD.

(JEAMIiC STORY FROM THE SOUTH. , LU'J-: I.\ TiJli I'TiOZEX COUXTIIY. WORST STORM IK 63 YEARS. (From a Special Corrcsepondent of the Christchureh Press.) Cooper's Creek, Thursday. We are living jn a white world "f our own, with no communieatioii \ . the outside world; our one wire to 0,..0 rd is down. This was discovered on Monday morning, when an attempt was made to ring up the doctor. -It was' thought that aa. the case was an extreme one, someone might cut a track through on horseback, and lead another hor*e oa which to bring the doctor hack. I shall attempt to give a description of our experience, and of our beautiful white world, but a picture of the latter is indescribable. Sunday afternoon it started to snow, not too heavily, but -by the time we retired the ground was white. But, to our amazement, we found on Monday morning that 3ft of snow had fallen; it was still snowing, but heavily now. AlLthe day we watched it mounting higher and higher—the fences carried about 3ft of snow in height, and quite 6ft across—our hedges are macrocarpa, the widest I've ever seen. We could only get a peep of the surrounding country that day through the gateway, and that was very little, as the mountains of snow on the hedges almost met, forming a rude archway over the gate. I set to work with a shovel, first at the'back door, and slowly out it path to the shed and pump. I brought in a few necessaries, such as several buckets of coal (which were very necessary, as it is bitterly cold), kerosene, wood, and potatoes. A s I cut, the snow was up to my waist.- Then I started at the front, and slowly made my way with the shove! to the gate, and opened it so that the gateway would not be entirely blocked. I took a peep out; no fences were visible for miles and miles. Kothing could be seen but the tops of trees, as I gazed across the plains. Later on, a neighbor cut a track up the middle of the road, and brought ns milk, and also bread We, who wero entirely dependent on butchers and bakers from Oxford, five miles distant, would be in a sad way but for the kindness of neighbors who make their own bread, etc. That night, Monday night, avalanches of snow began to slide off the roof. First of all there would be a twisting and wrenching, and then a terrific crash. We were terrified the roof might give way, but, fortunately for us. there is a good slope. At intervals of ten minutes or so would come this terrifying noise of sliding snow; the awful wrenching, which was more terrifying than the crashes of snow, came from the pipings; they are all broken off. On Monday night, all day Tuesday, and all Tuesday night, those avalanches were falling, consequently we got little sleep. In fact. Tuesday night we were too terrified to undress, so just lay between the blankets, trying to get a little sleep. We wcr? afraid to let our fire out in case the chimney got. blocked with snow. On Wednesday morning we found tlie snow had ceased, and the sky looked brighter. Before it had been impossible to tell where the snow ended and the sky began, as they were quite tlie same colorWhen we opened the front doer heaps upon heaps of snow blocked the way; it reached all but a few inches to the roof of the porch- Our kind neighbor camo down later with tlie milk and a snow-shovel, and cut a footing in the snow mountain. We were then able to climb up and get a view of the surrounding country; it was a strangely beautiful sight, and the sun, which had been invisible for long, looked simply lovely on tho hills. Later on, we got another path at the back, and were surprised to see' one chimney lying down on the roof, almost buried in the avalanche, which has yet to drop. We cannot see out of the scullery window, as there is a ftige mountain of snow falling over, and almost meeting tlie other snow, which, on the level, is sft deep. All along the back (where tlie roof docs not slope so much) is snow ready to fall- We are most careful -not to stand too near, as, when it does drop, it could bury one, or break one's neck.' This morning (Thursday) 1 took some snaps from our trench. Today we can sec Mount Oxford and the bills from the back; against the blue eky they'are a gloriously, beautiful sight. Where all the snow is going to when it thaws, Heaven only knows! It seems to me utterly impossible for it all to get away without flooding us out, but a neighbor assures us the streams will be' able to cope with it, but, "fiod help tho people lower down!" says lie. The poor sheep are all buried, but I liMr they can live some time like that. Hire and. there are to be seen little streams of steam arising, which arc from the buried slieeps' breath, which keeps the snow thawing, and enables it to breathe. Poor things. We are most anxious to hear news of three men who are in the back country, with only tents to live in, and no fires. I believe there ies no possible way of getting to themHow thankful we are that we are still safe and well, no one knows. We have had no news of the outside world since Saturday, but hope to get some war news to-day, as I know of one man who is going to try to make his way to Oxford on horseback to-day; he has taken Bome letters to post with him. Although the sun is shining brightly, we arc bitterly cold,_and I can scarce write; but what can one expect when we are practically buried in snow? , Thursday Kiglit. This afternoon, after wrapping ourselves well up, we ventured out to the track in the middle of the road. On all sides one. hears tales of distress. .Tust a few yards up the road an old lady, who lives by herself, is in great distress. Her verandah has fallen through, Rnd two back rooms have been wrenched away from the rest of the house by the Weight of snow. From another we hear that four draught horses are away, up the bush. Each day men, with shovels*, hav# tried to get to them, ,-but in vain. The owner of .tho horses managed to get only 100 eheep.out; there are still. 700 unaccounted for- That is only one case; out of many. The man who took, jOur lottert this morning has returned and brought tho r papor- it took him four solid hours to gci there to Oxford, which would, uullor "ordinary cirtupi token caty half an.

j hour. of the wealher in tlic Pres.*, T notice 111 ut only l-iin of snow are spoken of iti Oxford, so { presume there is no communication between Oxford and ('hriaU-hiirch now. It, in very strange to >ec riders puss silicic lilo down t iii! middle of the road? many with shovels, to cut :i way to their stock. I fear there wiii lie grout kisses. It is predicted thai the snuw will not disajipear for six or eight weeks, unless it rains. It is freezing hard again to-night, as it did last night, so, if that continues, it will never thaw. The snow, which h quite ;"ft in depth, in still on the back of our house; it will not fall to-night, as it is frozen. The icicles hanging from the snow looked very pretty this morning: there will be more to-morrow. When the teacher will br aid# to reopen school is impossible to say, over fift of snow forms a smooth, white blanket all over the playground. The birds are so tame, they come up close to the liou?c to he fed, robins and waxeyes principally. One little wax-eye came inside and let us pick him up. Even the wild magpies driven from the bush come and settle on the house, and come down for food. We have not had any news yet. of the men in the back. Such a storm has not been known for nearly CO years, and it yet remains to be seen what will happen when the snow thaws.