THE WEATHER DOWN SOUTH.
A young man belonging to Timaru arrived home on Saturday afternoon, and in a short chat with him yesterday, ho confirmed pretty well all the news which has appeared in our (Timaru Heralt!) columns lately. He has off and on been employed in the Mackenzie County for six years, and he says that this winter is the most terrible that they have experienced, Snow is lying all ovsr the high country, running from. 2 feet to almost any depth, the bottom Hats being particularly bad. He came from 13en Oban, the station alongside Ehobprous;b Downs. The sheep camps are on the flats, and in order to release them the Bon Qhau people made a powerful snow plough and cleared passages into which the sheep were run. The snow plough in clearing the top drift exposes the tussock, which shoot up and become food for the sheep. When the camps were exposed the sheep were found to be very weak, but he did notsee many dead ones. A lot of wool was lying about, the sheep haying pulled it of one another, and groat difficulty was experienced in getting them out of their camps. It is impossible, so far, to miiko a reliable estimate as to loss, but he agrees that it will prove vory large, Bon Oliau is a 1 good station,' the stock not having suffered so much as on other stations. When he left, it was freezing hard, all the creeks, both
large and small, being one mass of ice. Our informant tried to get to Timaru by way of Burke's Pass, but could not, his pony not being equal to the task of labouring through the drifts. He then 'harked back to Ben Oliau, and came down what is known as the Waitaki side by way of Kurow, crossing over to Sandhurst, through Waimate, and home to Timaru. He left on Tuesday last, and arrived, here on Saturday afternoon, His journey was surrounded with much difficulty ,an'd his best day's work was 70 miles on Friday last. He would not haye como thrqqgh had jt not been that feed was so scarce that it was a case of losing his pony and being snowed up for weeks, He lost tho snow line about GO miles from Waimate, when he got down on to the coast country; all the high country is one mass of snow. On Glentanner and other stations which lie open'to tho sun, the enow is not bad, and black patches are seen here and there. He confirms the news of dogs being frozen, but not in the kennels. Ho saw three dogs belonging to a rabbiter's camp which wero frozen etiff. They were of the greyhound or short-haired kind, had beeu lying outside their kennels, thoir chains got covered wi(h snow, then frozen, and the dogs been unable to regain thoir kennels, dozed off never to wake again. Other rabbiters had also lost dogs iu the samo way as the ono mentioned. To short-haired dogs, a night's exposure was fatal; 'woolly' dogs pulled through all right, Rabbits are dying in large numbers, and aro so weak that they cannot get out of the l way of tho horses, and are trampled under foot, Patches of scrub are crowded with rabbits, and the rabbiters have simply to pick them up' and knock them on the head, Hero find there tho station fences aro covered with snow and pan be ridden over, ,
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Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5087, 26 July 1895, Page 3
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580THE WEATHER DOWN SOUTH. Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5087, 26 July 1895, Page 3
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