The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-05-22
ks. rne shocks passed from east

snocks. The shocks passed from east
to west.
The Australian papers are filed with
stories of the great heat and storms
and the loss of life and property re-
sulting therefrom. The greatest heat
recorded during the hot spell, which
occurred in January, was in Adelaide,
172 degrees in the sun and III in the
shade; in Melbourne, liz degrees in
the shade; Hopetoun, 113 degrees:
Swan Hill, 116 degrees; Bourke, 11S
degrees, and Mildura, 100 degrees. In
Bourke, N. s. w., q town of 5000 inhab-
itants, IS people died in one week of
heat apoplexy. People fell in the
streets and died without regaining con-
seriousness. A woman attending her
dying husband suddenly became i'll
from the heat and died an hour be-
fore her husband. A son-in-1aw of
these two died from the heat while
making the funeral arrangements
Many people were found after the heat
was over dead in the country roads
and in the fields. The railway depart
Iuents of the various colonies made
special reduced rates to enable people
to escape to the cooler districts of the
Australian Alps, and the residents of
the plains fled to the mountains panic
stricken.
Millions of fish persisted in the lakes
throughout the country because of the
water drying up. The pelicans profited
rather than suffered by the heat. They
throngedthe banks of the lakes in thou
sands, gorging themselves on the fish
exposed by the evaporating waters.
Birds fell from the trees and died in
great numbers. The wax cells of bee
hives melted and imprisoned large num-
bers of bees, which were thus smothered
in their own sweetness. Cattle and
sheep died in droves all over the con-
tinent and the price of stock has gone
mp greatly. Smelling was suspended
IN most of the mining towns and surface
laborers of all kinds had to cease work.
The grape crops in many districts were
ruined. In Sydney 100 tons of ice were
consumed daily, and the supply of
lemons was completely used up.
Serious fires occurred not only in the
bush and the country districts, but also
in the cities, started by spontaneous
combustion. Extra guards were placed
at many factories and warehouses to
watch for and guard against fire gen
Grating in closely stored goods. Bush
fires prevailed all over the country, and
the fate of many settlements is still in
doubt.
The damage in Queenstown from the
storms which followed close after the
heat was very great, and only meager re-
ports had yet been collected three weeks
ago. Houses and buildings of all de-
scriptions were swept away in the floods.
and the damage to crops, almost ready
for the harvest, was enormous. The
Comet rose 40 feet in IL hours, the Mega
20 and the Yama 12 feet. At Payneham
the English church, one Of the finest
structures in the colony, was leveled to
the ground by the cyclonic gale and
the succeeding floods. At olympic the
mines were flooded, and all the mining
operations in the district were sus-
pended. Great suffering prevailed in
all quarters heard from and great desti-
tuition must result from the ruin of
the crops.
1t will doubtless be many weeks be-
fore the complete history of Australians
extraordinary climatic scourge is
learned, and all the indications are that
it will be terrible and sorrowful tale.
IN. Y. Sun.