CLOCK TOWER AND THEATRE ROYAL, PLYMOUTH.
The railways by the end of the week had commenced to run with something like regularity, although there were one or two temporary hitches at first; and the postal telegraph services had already been partially restored. To effect the latter object, large numbers of engineers had been at work, and in the course of their labours, as may be supposed, they met with a great deal of discomfort, and some very startling adventures. Bricklayers, plumbers and plasterers plied a busy trade for weeks after the storm, their services being required to some extent in every house.
DEVONPORT PARK.
At Stonehouse, the main streets were soon freed from snow, and the usual busy throngs of people began once more to pass along this highway between Plymouth and Devonport.
At Devonport, by Friday, in many parts of the town the snow had quite disappeared, though in several of the streets heaps of slush remained, and at the railway station business went on much as usual. In Devonport Park great quantities of snow remained for a considerable time, though the paths were cleared, and traffic for foot-passengers was made easy. Mr. Rowe, of Devonport, has supplied a photograph of a very familiar scene in the Park, which is here presented. The view of the Water Steps, Milehouse Road, is also from a photograph by the same gentleman.
All over the storm-swept district, farmers were busy looking for cattle and sheep, and some marvellous instances have been told of sheep being recovered alive after being entombed for various lengthy periods, one term of snow imprisonment lasting as long as sixteen days.
As early as the Tuesday morning following the storm of Monday night, Mr. Bellamy, the Plymouth Borough Surveyor, notified to the inhabitants of that town the imminent danger of a cessation of the water supply, in consequence of the blocking by snow of the leat through which the water is brought into the town. That these warnings were needed was evident from the fact that since the Monday night the only water obtainable had been from the Hartley reservoir, which, when full, contains only two million gallons, or two days' supply. On Wednesday the whole of the available staff of the Corporation, including the men whose usual task is the repairing of the leat, were set to work, under the personal supervision of Mr. Bellamy, to clear away the frozen snow which completely filled the leat at the Head Weir, and prevented the passage through it of any water from the river. The whole leat from the Head Weir to Roborough was found to be one mass of frozen snow. On the same day, the Mayor of Plymouth, Mr. J. T. Bond, accompanied by Mr. R. Monk and Mr. G. R. Barrett, set out to walk up to Roborough, to ascertain if possible how the work was progressing. The Mayor and his companions arrived safely at Roborough, and were enabled to have communication by telephone with the borough surveyor who was at the weir head. They ascertained from him the condition of the leat, and received an urgent appeal for at least two hundred more workmen to be sent up immediately. The party then set out on their return journey, and again on foot.
