ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 16, 5 August 1843, Page 3

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Southern Cross. Sir, — On the evening of Tuesday last a dreadful inundation yisitod this unfortunate town, which has been attended with serious consequences to the miserable inhabitants, and will be the means of rendering many families destitute for the remainder of the winter. As you were more than probable snugly ensconced beforo your own fireside, and did not witness the dire calamity, I will endeavour to, give you some account of it : The rain which had descended heavily during th,e, whole of the day, reaehod its maximum of intensity about five o'clock ; when the Ligar,iaii Canal overflowed its banks in the middle of Lower Queen-street, and swept all before it. Three miserable wretches in the s,hape of a fin,e tortoise-shell Goat, one fine young sow pig, and a bantam cock* w.ere the first that fell yiptjius to the watery element ; by six o'clock the whole, of the ground comprising Todds allotment, to the. foot of the hill by the Custoni House, was one vast slieet pf water, roaring and foaming in an awful manner in jts passage to the sea, tyhich presented a spectacle never before witnessed by the oldest resident, the harbour being literally covered with the property of the inhabitants. Pigs, dogs, tubs, casks of butter, shingles, timber, and a variety of other articles, were immediately swept away, an 4 hard and diro wpre the' struggles of many of the poor emigrants in the immediate neighbourhood in endeavouring to save their few articles of clothing from being totally jost. Such a vast quantity of shoes were swept from of the feet of tho people, that it is fully expected that kip and sole leather ' will rise' so per cent ; what adds, greatly to the calamity, is the loss of nearly all the j clayj- which has lately been laid down by i order of that humane man " the ojfice? administering the government," to improve this part of tho town ; it has' disappeared in some places, and left tho hard firm soil which before existed, in the same state thai it was about six months ago, a desideratum which, I think, is to be wished, but as I am a poor peaceful radical, 1 shall say no more about that part of it, for fe^r" of offending the " Great High Lord." l ° A public mooting was called about eight ' o'clock, to take into consideration what steps ! would bo best to adqpt to prevent such another calamity, when it was proposed and seconded, that the Collector of Customs' should bo requps|;ed to "discharge all his surplus customs collections into it ; as that j brunch of the royjenue has realisod £2,000 1 moro than was calculated on, it was thought that a portion of it could be spared to im- ! prove' this part of the town, as this ; second proposition was on the point of being put to the meeting, a suggestion was put by " one of the people," whether the originator of the canal should not be requosted to fill it up at his own 'pxpense, as the construction i of the canal was evidently a waste of the public money ; this was strqngjy opposed by some survey men who were in the room, and indeed, I was much inclined to support them, ; sqeing tha.t I myself had some hand in getting | it made, although at the sam,o time, had it j been done in a proper manner at first, this | unfortunate occurrence would nover have taken place. The second resolution, after a deal of disputing, wa-s finally lost, and a rider was proposed to be attached to the first one, to the effect that the originator of the Ligarian Canal be forthwith ducked into it ; as I thought this was too warm to be pleasant, and as Mr. Ligar himself was not there to support his own canal, I thought it prudent to decamp, I however afterwards learned, that a new proposition altogether was finally proposed and carried, to the effect that, a deputation do wait on the officer administering the government, to request him to have all the old government stores emptied into the Ligarian Canal, instead of into the vaults of tho Government House, as a new Governor will bo suro to order them out again, unless, indeed, he like others, wishes to be a dealer in Marine Stores. I am, Mr. Editor, &c, 1 . M Auckland, Aiigusrt 3, 1843. P. S.— The resolutions of the meeting are to be printed in the Dross, and a copy handsomely edged with gold, is to be presented to his Excellency to read. P. S., 2nd.— The beautiful stone facing of the Canal fronting the harbour, is all gone. [From the above Serio-Comic sketch, it is quite plain that our friend " M," has sustained no great loss himself. Although we are glad of this, we are still sorry to hear that others have not been equally fortunate. We regret to hear that Mr. Rich has had a large quantity of butter floated away from his stores into the sea. Thero is no man in Auckland who has moro disinterestedly sought to advance the colony than Mr. Rich. He has frequently done so at' expense, to

himself, and we are very sorry to think thai ho should loose so much through Mr. Ligar's carelessness or stupidity ; M r e told Mr. Ligar often that mischief would attend his labors, but of course ho heeded not. — Ed.]