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THE HEAT WAVE.
[BY TELEGRAPH.]
A Sydney-side " Black Monday."
" A Scorcher" Everywhere.
Death and Distress.
SYDNEY, Monday.
January 13 will be long remem-
bered as New South Wales' "Black
Monday." Here and there higher
readings have been got from the
thermometer ; but the people were
already exhausted by a spell of
terribly severe weather. From one
end of the colony to the other and
from side to side the same story
comes—scorching and dazzling or
stewing and killing heat.
The following list shows how wide-
spread was the area of high tempera-
ture within this colony. :—
Kiama .. 117
Lawson - ... 101
Mulgoa ... 113
Moruya ... 110
Molong ... 102
Newcastle ... 96
Nowra ... 114
Nymagee .. 115
Oberon ... 95
Parramatta ... 111
Pambula ... 101
Parkes ... 106
Penrith ... 112
Quirindi ... 120
Robertson ... 102
Rmd. Terrace 106
St. Mary's ... 109
Scone. 110
Singleton ... 104
Springwood ... 101
Tenterfield ... 103
Tamworth ... 109
Wagga ... 112
Wollongong... 110
Windsor ... 107
Young ... 108
Araluen ... 106
Armidale ... 93
Albion Park... 114
Bellingen ... 109
Bathurst ... 104.8
Braidwood ... 105
Bourke ... 103
Bega ... 110
Bowral ... 98
Bulli. 103
Berrigan ... 107
Broken Hill ... 110
Crookwell ... 101
Cooma ... 105
Camden ... 100
Condoblin ... 116
Candelo ... 106
Clifton ... 109
Cobar. 115
Dapto... ... 113
Deniliquin ... 104
Dubbo ... 103
Forbes ... 111
Grafton ... 104
Gosford ... 105
Goulburn ... 107
Hornsby ... 104
At Ultimo, near the city, a ther-
mometer set under a passion-tree vine
registered 123.
Business in the city was almost
suspended. Many works were discon-
tinued.
It is estimated that during the 24
hours between 19,000,000 and
20,000,000 gallons of water was drawn
from the city service ; and the hotel
saloons, cool-drink shops, and milk
" palaces " were the favorite resorts.
Even the street urchins neglected the
sale of their papers to improve their
acquaintance with the ice cream man.
What would have happened if in the
evening a southerly " buster" had not
sprung up it is not pleasant to con-
template. The " buster " increased to
a gale, tearing along at the rate of 53
miles an hour ; and what would have
been viewed with alarm generally was
taken as a godsend in view of the
rapidly falling thermometer.
It is not very often that the elements
interfere with the working of the post-
office ; but yesterday they did. The
delivery of letters was considerably
delayed—not that most people cared,
because they had no hope of doing any
business and pleasure was unthought
of. Many cab horses were stricken
and fell in the street, seriously inter-
fering with traffic. The 'bus company
changed the horses each trip. The
deepest regret of the drivers was that
they could not be changed also.
The bathing places were chock-a-
block. Fifteen hundred people visited
Cavill's baths at Manly, to mention
only one resort, and that not the
handiest of the many of its kind.
Professor Anderson Stuart, medical
adviser to the Government, says it is
satisfactory to know that the sanitary
arrangements of the city are excellent,
so that the heat will not seriously
affect the public health. "I was
prostrated," he says, " while a brother
doctor remarked that the weather
suited him immensely—he never felt
better in his life."
Mr. H. C. Russell, Government
Astronomer, says that the primary
cause of the heat is the heating of the
interior plains on account of the sun
shining on them through a clear
atmosphere. Under such circumstances,
he adds, the temperature of the soil
rises frequently to 140.
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