TOLL OF THE STORM.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 306, 26 December 1924, Page 3

TOLL OF THE STORM.

BIG SLIP ON HUTT ROAD. (From Our Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday. A survey of the loss and damage occasioned by last week's storm shows that a lot of money will have to be spent in cleaning up. Whenever there is aphenomenal rainfall locally the steep , hillsides of the Hutt Road have seldom failed to contribute towards the list of mishaps. Early on Saturday morning a big slice off the face of the'hill about 200 yards on the city side of Ngahaurar.ga slid down on to the Hutt Road and blocked traffic. The face of the hill at this point is about SO or 90 feet in height, and the slip took a big bite out of-the face from the top almost to the road level. It is estimated that about 10,000 tons of earth or more had to be shifted and the City Council's steam shovel was requisitioned for the purpose and commenced operations on Monday morning, loading the spoil into a Meet of motor trucks. The slip, for which the forces of nature alone can be held responsible, opens out a. new and unthought-of responsibility for the Wellington City and Suburban Hi<*ways Board of Control, and it is understood that the heavy cost of removin" the spoil will devolve upon the finance's of that board. Nor is that liability likely to be a lie-ht one. The of the cliff above the slip still looks"dangerous, and when seen yesterday afternoon a minor fall of earth could still •be observed taking place high up on the precipitous face, so there is every reason to fear that with the next heavy downpour of rain there will be further earth falls at this spot. The City working frang has been kept very busy clearing away slip? j n various suburhan area*, and some of : these slips involved many hours of .labour before they were finally cleared