POST OFFICE REPORTS

STATE OF RIVERS AND ROADS

DOUBT- ABOUT.; BREAKAWAYS

According tovadyi^d received by- the Acting Seeret&ry 6f' the ■ General Post Office, • a telegraph:^engineer, visited Murchison -yesterday,.: au'dv'he reports that every person, was/deserting, the town, the scenes of havoc and devastation in which .were;bfeybnd' description. His'message,continuesi;: ■', 'Severe shocks still continue.;- :: ;I- ~visited' the -scene where the Matakitaki Biver is. blocked, and .it -will take probably two' days to break through, 'although; heavy rain is now falling,;,:and ;;tuis may hasten a clearance. -1' is-, problematical whether the river will burst and/flood Murchison, the ;Builer.:;YaHey, anVl Westport, or whether it. wiili flow.slowly.■■ I saw the Public .;W,qrks.rJsepartnient. engineer, who thinks the; Matter -is probable, buj; he cannpt; definitely, say,; and is advising the.Murchisdn^people to, vacate the place. "It",- isinadvisable 'to inform Westport and ■rnan^ahua of. the position. ' ■ ..-.. : ■■:'-'::i-;- ■ ■■ /■■ :

'' Twelve, men. jeft Murchison for Maruia across/country 'this!morning, to assist to bringVout- the women and children., . The. motor' trucks will stay at Murchison. until ,;the Maruia . people arrive, ■ providing ;the, road can -be kept open. There is, every: probability of the road between-(Slenhope-an' 1 Murchison being ;• carried; iway'by. the rainwater widening'the; road fissures. Only tvv-enty people are now left;in.Murchisp'n.: The - r postmaster: will ■ stay at the office until . the-last' person leaves, and will then-remov.e to Gowan, Bridge. "Eoadmen who arrived in Murchison this morning from Maruia Saddle reported , that the -. country"- between the Upper; Matakitaki: andßirn Brae was carried-away.. -.•'..-. . ■■ ■ •'-. : ■

"The Maruia Ei.ver is reported to bo blocked in the gorge at - Glengarry by rock some hundreds of feet high, and will probably, completely, flood the Maruia Plains.;- The,Matakitaki Biver beyond the block is .backed up.six miles, and resembles Lake Eotoiti. Koadmen from SuliivanVs Bridge. (Lower. Buller) report that miles: of road and telegraph line were carried' into the) river. ."I inspected: the Nline: "south; of ;Murchison for a mile 1 or so,: and found it completely wrecked.-.' '■ i:"-^■/;■'-} - ' * ; .:

"lii Murchison township the Post md Telcgnph s\stem, is disorganised The electnc light poles aie all down The power house is out of action, and the ■natei, supply'has disappeared. Muiehison inhabitants will probably not return for some time, as the houses aie all uninhabitable. "According, to reports the Lower Maima Valley is completely -wrecked, and it is not possible (:o lcbuild the Paenga branch line." ' SLIPS IN THE BULLEE A message was received a httle latei friom ihe ihief postmaslei at ISclson stating that he had just spoken to the Murchison postmastei at Gowan Bnd^e. "lie informs me," the message added, "that the lesidents. of are all leading for Nelson. Severe eaithqualves still continue at Matakitaki. The Maruiar aiid the Matui Riveis are completely blocked. I understand the Bullor River is flowing over the blockage, but theie is nothing definito in this respect. The heavy ( rain setting m is likely to adversely affect the tempoiary lepans to roads, etc. The Muichisou post office building is se\eily wrenched out of plumb V ( The t'ollo-iving leptnt, dispatched at 110 pm, was iqceivcd from the postmaster at Mmchison: "Muichisou had fuithci tiemors during the night, oue of which was almost as bevere as the soveiest felt yesterday. No further damage has occurred beyond landslips. "Eefugees from, tho Lower Maruia (Ariki), who have 3ust arrived, report 'All well,' and that the Maruia Eiver is woiking round a slip at Glengarry and at Holmans.

"A leport from the Upper Maruia states that all is well, and that the damage is not as severe as in the vicinity of Murehison. ' '

"Kain sot in i this morning, and this w ill accentuate the landslips. "It was reported to-day that there is a crack in, the hill, fourteen feet wide, near Eerr's mill (Owen), which may tako the road into the river."

A further report .from tht Murchison postmaster states that as far as is ascertaiuablo the Matakitaki River is not yet up to the top'of the dam. "The Maruia River reached its lowest level dam, and is flowing over. "The Buller Kivor is tunning noimal o^ei tho dam nt Fern Flat."