THE HEAT IN-AUSTRALIA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1542, 20 January 1887, Page 4

THE HEAT IN-AUSTRALIA.

(j . Melbourne,, Jan. 41.; A severe spell of,,hot . weather has been experienced in Victoria. Australia, as well a](|9|||k| Eif^rab|mrt|ph'ibfrjNpw South Wales. "“All last week in Melbourne the heat went dn ihoreaiiing. 1 On Tuesday last it was 93 digress in the shade, on ThUrs'- 1 day 97, on Friday 98,'bn'i Saturday 99, on Sunday 103, and on Monday 10j1... To-dajf.it is cooler : again, though still unpleasantly, war m. The spell Has' been prolonged hy ; tbe prevalence of an edst 1 Usually* after, one hot day A north wind starts; and in the qonrse of thirty-six or'forty-eight hour's it'produces such a disturbance in the atmosphere e|s to bring up a cold change from the south. With the light, the hrat remained for'w'hat li'aS been‘dnb l 6i the longest qpeils< om repord; There was a great failure water isupplyfd Melbourne, hit* from the,scarcityof wafer in tbereservoii I ,’but from - want of capacity in the mains, and the; water tupply departus-nt is abused on every hand. In the country districtßiof. Victoria the heat was extreme/ rising fo as much as 1J.5 m the shade at Sandhurst, arid in’the thunderstorms wbiolx were experienced m several district",' fwo people suffered death from lightning, The heal in the stfn In ! M£lbourne reached 154 deg. These .registers have been exceeded bn very few occa-ioris/ In Adelaide on t un. jday it was lil'm the shade, and eight sudden' deaths occui'red 'in that city, which were in part attributable to tbe heat. In Melbourne also there were two fatal eases' of sunstroke. In the Riverina distrioi, in New South Waits, large bush and grass fires have occurred. One very destructive fire was,occasioned through horses treading on, a box of matches in u field of wbeatV The flames Spread with terrible' rapidity, end catching tliA'luxuriabt gfiiss on theJßarooga mn, compfelely pjeared on an a of 50,000 acres/; The fire’ raged’ fpr f jiree days, and , a great tract of country is nothing but ii desert, The loss in sheep was not sogreat as fflight'hdye bpen expected, probably not exceeding i» total of gOpf), b,u*. many selectors lost the whole of their crops.