West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Monday 6 January 1896, page 4


THE HEAT WAVE.

SATURDAY'S TEMPERATURE. ONE HUNDRED AND NINE

DEGREES.

TWO MORE DEATHS IN THE

CITY.

Tho weather in Perth on Saturday was not so hot as on the previous day, when 112 degrees in the shade were registered. During the morning there appeared to be every prospect that Friday's maximum would be reached. Shortly after 12 o'clock, however, the thermometer registered 109 degrees, but during the afternoon the heat was moderated by a cool breeze blowing from the sea, and the maximum during the day stopped at a little over the noon register. Yesterday the weather was comparatively temperate, and it appears that what is colloquially described as " the heat wave " has passed.

Two deaths, which may be attributed to the heat, occurred in Perth on Saturday. The first was that of a man named Thomas Abigail, employed as a gardener by Mr. Gibbs, of Bulwer-street. Abigail was taken to the hospital at about 3 o'olock, when life was found to be extinct. A post mortem examina-tion showed that death was due to heart disease, accelerated by the heat. At about 6 o'olock Mrs. Williamson, residing in Goderich street, was taken to the institution and died at the moment of admission! The deceased had been suffering from chronic bronchitis, the effects of which disease had also been accelerated by the heat. A man named Francis Well, in the employ of the Bon Marche' establishment, was removed -to the institution shortly after 6 o'olock, and was found to be suffering from heat apoplexy. His condition last night was favourable.

DR. SPENCER INTERVIEWED.

The effect of the heat of the last few days has been perhaps most severely felt by invalids, whether at home or in the public or private hospitals. Dr. Spencer, resident surgeon of the Colonial Hospital, in conversa-tion with a representative of this journal, said that typhoid patients especially suffered severely from such weather as that of the past week. He attributed the deaths of two typhoid patients which had recently taken place in the hospital to this cause. Had the weather continued normal he had fully ex pected that both would have recovered. Speaking of the cases of heat apoplexy that bad been brought to the institution, Dr. Spencer said that of those which had not terminated fatally tho worst had been those of two men who had not been at the time of their attack exposed to the rays of the sun. In one case a man had been working in a room at a temperature of 120 degrees, while the other had been working in a hot kitchen, the temperature of which was not given.

SOME PREVIOUS RECORDS.

Comparison with the records of the past twenty years shows that it is nearly eleven years since heat similar to that of Friday was registered in Perth. On February 1, 1885,112 degrees in the shade were recorded. The highest temperature on record was of January 25,1878-not 1879, as it was pub-lished on Saturday. The following list from statistics in the office of the Registrar General (Mr. M. A. C. Fraser) shows the yearly maximum readings of the thermometer in Perth during the last twenty years : Year. Maximum. Date.

1876 .. 112 .. Feb. 20

1877 ... 107 ... Feb. 2

1878 ... 117 ... Jan. 25

1879 ... 106 ... April 1

1880 ... 110 ... Jan. 25 and 26

1881 ... 107 ... Jan. 4 and Feb. 14

1882 ... 114 ... Feb. 18 and Dec. 25

1883 ... 106 ... Dec. 18

1884 ... 116 ... Jan. 9

1885 ... 112 ... Feb. 1

1886 ... 109 ... Feb. 15

1887 ... 110 ... Dec. 4

1888 ... 105 ... Jan. 2 and Dec. 15

1889 ... 107 ... Jan. 7

1890 ... 106 ... Jan. 7

1891 ... 106 ... Feb. 28

1892 ... 109 ... Jan. 16

1893 ... 106 ... Jan. 24

1894 ... 107 ... Jan. 18

1895 ... 104 ... Dec. 29

THE WATER SUPPLY.

THE SECRETARY OF THE COMPANY

INTERVIEWED.

" There is enough water in the reservoir to supply Perth for five years." Such is the statement of Mr. Jones, the Secretary of the Perth Water Supply Company. It is simply the sudden, immense, and unexpected strain on the mains, he declares, that has caused the present temporary inconvenience in some places. So to give the mains a chance to become fully charged again the determination was arrived at to cut off the water from mid-night until 5 o'olock in the morning. People, therefore, will not be able-figuratively speaking-to "sit in baths" all the night through, but they need not have any fear, ac cording to an assurance given, of the water supply of Perth giving out. Certainly the water is obtained by catchment, but the volume at present is large, being in depth only about 2ft. 6in. less than it has ever been. There was on December 21st a depth of about 49ft. and the water has only been diminishing in the reservoir at the rate of about one inch per day. Those people who have had the least supply of water during the present exceptional period are those who live in localities where the smallest mains exist, and where, owing to rapid increase of population, there has been such a sudden and great demand upon the resources of these mains. Some complaints were received on Saturday at the Water Supply Company's Office, and in most cases they were, it is stated, from people thus located. One person as-serted that his house had not been supplied with water for four days, but the secretary of the Water Supply Company found it difficult to accept this statement, and fancied there must have been some mis-take. Though the quantity of water stored in the main reservoir is so great, and the secretary gives the assurance that there is no need for fear, the conservation of the water as far as possible will be the first consideration. Waste, the Company hold, must be prevented as far as practicable, and this is a point on which the public can exercise good judgment and assist those who control the water supply. Even the City Council, or some of their employees, offend very glaringly in this respect, accord-ing to Mr. Jones. The secretary states that some of the water carts used by the Council are so far from being watertight that very

considerable waste results. He supplies an instance where a report was made to him about a water cart and the hose leaking so much while the cart was being filled that a

stream of water 7 inches wide and 1½ inches deep flowed down the roadway to the river.

This is the substance of the information vouchsafed on Saturday by Mr. Jones, who added that that day gave a fair chance of gauging what effect had been caused by cutting off the water during the night, as the previous night was the first on which the supply had been stopped.

EXPERIENCES AT FREMANTLE.

HUNDREDS OF OUTDOOR SLEEPERS.

If the opinions of the oldest inhabitant can be accepted, the temperature of Thurs-day has net been reached for fully twenty years. Fremantle is singularly favoured in the variation of temperature by day and night. It is only during the two hours pre-ceding noon that the heat is, as a rule, really felt, the invigorating sea-breeze being a regular visitor at or near the middle of the day. The experiences of Fremantle people during Wednesday and Thursday, however, proved an unpleasant exception. Offi-cial readings of the thermometer on Wednesday give, it is contended, un-reliable figures. In many of the coolest parts of the town the mercury stood at 104 and on Thursday at 106. The official variation on Thursday and up to 9 a.m. on Friday was recorded as 100 maximum and 82 minimum. The minimum tempera-ture on Thursday night was so great that in-door repose was found impossible. Some hundreds of persons quitted their beds and sought relief upon verandah chairs and lounges, while not a few betook themselves to a seaweed couch on the beach. On Frida morning the south beach presented an un-usual scene along its entire length, men and boys rolling up rags or indulging in an early dip. The sands must have been a wel-come resort to the heated residents of South Fremantle, for only on the beach was a breath of air stirring. Saturday brought a cooling breeze early in the day and seemed to bring a revival to many who suffered from the unusual oppressiveness of the weather. Towards afternoon the breeze blew strongly from the south-west, and yesterday it was still blowing steadily, the clouds of dust which swept along the streets being accounted a mach less evil than the scorching rays of the sun on the preceding day. No cases of sun-

stroke or serious illness from heat were re-ported.