Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW : 1888 - 1954), Tuesday 14 January 1896, page 2


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.