EXTRAORDINARY HURRICANE IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1839, 19 April 1884, Page 4

EXTRAORDINARY HURRICANE IN GREAT BRITAIN.

The Ediuborough correspondent of tho Otago Daily Times writes under date, February 7th :—: — ■ This abnormally mild and quiet winter has been marked during its later week--by a succession of severe and destructive galoa, one of which possessed features winch will invest it with unique interest in the history of meteorological science This tempest occurred on the 26th and 27th January, especially on the former ol the two days. The barometer fell with astonishing rapidity ta a level ne\ei befoie reached in the British Islands, and only once paralleled in the meteorologic.il observations taken in the temperate zone of the Noithetn Hemisphere. M.uiy oi the barometrical readings have still to be collected for sea-level and temperature, but, so far as is known, the lowest trustworthy reading recorded was 27 "332 inches at Ciieft. At Edinburgh it was almost equally low, being 27 "466 inches. Pievious to this the lowest reiding on record in the United Kingdom was 27 732 inches, on 11th November 1877, at the Mouach Lighthouse, west of North Uist, and hence right in the track of the Atlantic cyclones. A somewhat lower reading was once obtained on board the Cunard liner T.irifa in mid Atlantic, but with this excepti >n the late storm remains without pmallel. As might be expected, it wrought immense damage all over the Kingdom. In Scotland, its effects weie most disastrous in the western and southern counties. The wind banked up the water in the Clyde, with the lesuit of flooding all the low-lying poitions of Dumbaiton, Port Glasgow, Gouioek, and other places, causing much damage and discomfoit. On the Ayrshire coast the wind and sea combined to wieckand flood paits of Ayr and Saltcoats, while the former place was also plunged into darkness through the sea Hooding the gaswoiks. At Galashiels a masshe gasometer, whose iron supports had lately been strengthened at a cost of £200, was tom from them like a leaf from a tiee, earned some yards, and " broken up and spiead out as if it had been a piece of . sailcloth." The 46,000 feet of gas in the holder at the time was watted away on the gentle breeze, leaving half the town in darkness. The telegraph wires wen- levelled almost everywhere in exposed spots, and chimneys, slates, &c, weie ovei throw n or sent w hiding thiough tlie air. Home oi the escapes of persons in towns iiom these dangers weie very remaikable. The stoun did even worse h.i\ 00 among tiees, especially in young plantations. In Dumfriesshire in particular the d image thus done is enormous. In one place a whole wood was le\ piled to the gi omul, and in each of two other cases it is belie\ed that the number of trees overthrown must reach 30,000. In wooded distiicts generally roads and railways weic blocked with fallen tiees. A ttain proceeding from Carlisle to Glasgow, on the Glasgow and South- western line, was brought to a standstill at Dalswinton Wood by alai»e tiee having fallen acioss the track. The obstt action was icmoved, and the ttain staited again, when a fieice gust blew o\ei a till hr, whose head struck a carriage, smashing all the windows. As the tiam passed tlie tiee bioke the windows in c\eiy compaitment except the last and the guaid's van, so that when the train ai lived at Thornhill it pieiented a veiy dilapidated appearance. One gentleman was badly cut about the face, but with this exception the passengers were not much injured. In the Noith, the gile was accompanied by a heavy snowfall, and the Highland railway was blocked for four days near Dalnaspidal, in Perthshire, the drifts \aiying fioni 20 to 30 feet in depth. A good many pei *ons perished from exposure in different paits of the country, and many sheep aKo died in the snow. On the top of Ben Nevis the storm was so violent that for hoins tlie observations could not be taken, though Mr Oimond pluckily ondea\ouied to leach the thermometer cage with a lope tied round him, held by his assistant inside the house. Although the bniometer was specially constructed for the Ben, the mercuiy was within 2-lOt'is of falling below the scale altogether, the lowest leading being 23 173 inches. Such are a tew of the incidents connected with this remarkable stoim, which will be always referred to hereafter in the annals of meteorology.

Tjil Fri.xch MhruoD ok Asking War Cki.dit-.. —One fact, the Economist uiges, eomes> out early and unpleasantly in the debates in the Fiench Chamber about Tonquin. The Government, although neaily sine of support in its colonial policy, and resolute in that policy to an unexpected degree, and although cynically frrink in its exposition of ulterior motives, does not hesitate in the least to dccciv c the people about finance. Nor is it seriously checked by the Chamber in pursuing that course. The Ministry know perfectly well that their first application for £320,000, and their third application for £SOO,O 0 for the conquest of Touquin, give no correct idea of expense ot their now policy They know that the past expenses for ti.insport, tor stoics, for payments in Anain to the auxiliaiy tioops, .mil for tlio collection of volunteeia, uasclmiely been covered, if they ha\ c been co\ oied, and that if more has to be done they mustobtiin votes for much larger Minis. They know, also, that even if they aie successful more must be done, that Tonquin must be gairisoned, that Haiphong must be tinned into a great &toie-house, that foitiesses must be built or repaired allover the new ten itoi y. Indeed, it tiatle with Yunnan is to be peimanently fiec, a\ery powciful frontier force must be permanently maintained. Yet tlicj give no hint in public of these ine\itable outlays, and the majoiity of deputies allow tliom to keep silence. Theie is a tacit understanding that it would bo fatal to a forward policy to reveal its cost, and the money must be spent, and that when success has been achieved the bill will be paid without too much consideration of its amount. Theie is, in fact, between the governois and the gwerned no real confidence upon the question of expense—a fact thoroughly discreditable to the Republican requne. Half the difficulties in which the French Government are now plunged would have been avoided if the Ministry could have made full preparations at once, have sent an adequate force to Tonquin, and have collected 10,000 leserves at ports of embarkation. Their icason for doing so was in part, no doubt, difficulty about men, but chiefly reluctance to inform the nation of the expenditure which all the while they knew would be incurred. The true way when an expedition was on foot would be to open a sufficiently nontiansferable credit for so many months, to be expended gradually, with the j geneial consent of some financial com- j mittee, and to be full}' accunted for at the end. The Government would have nothing to gain from waste, and would be able at once to make the preparations and take the precautions the want of which is in the end always so terribly expensive.

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