FLOOD DAMAGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 142, 18 June 1929, Page 8

FLOOD DAMAGE.

TIMBER COMPANY SUED.

BRIDGE CLAIM OF £2767.

ACTION BY THAMES BODIES,

I The last step in a scries of negotiations extending over nearly five years was taken in the Supreme Court to-day before Mr. Justice Kennedy, when the Thames Borough Council and the Thames County Council sued the Kauri Timber Co., Ltd., for a sum of £2707, on account of damages to the bridge over the Kauaeranga River at Parawai, Thames, connecting the borough with the county. Counsel for the plaintiff bodies was Mr. Ilogben and for the defendant company Mr. A. H. Johnstone and Mr. J, JJ. Johnston appeared. Allegations by the plaintiffs that the defendant company's timber caused the partial destruction of the bridge were given a general denial. Floods that' occurred in May, 1921, caused logs to be iloated down the Kauaeranga River. In consequence the bridge was damaged and partially destroyed, said Mr. Hogben. The action was dependent upon the Public Works Act and a special local act defining the boundaries of the borough and the county of Thames. The borough had always contributed half the cost of maintenance, upkeep and control of the eastern portion of the bridge and approaches, which were in the borough. An admission was made by the defendant company that it held a license issued under the Timber Floating Act, 1908, bearing the date of February 17, 1924. Fugitive Logs. Bush felling operations were being carried on by the defendant company alone, in the vicinity of the river some miles above the Parawai Bridge. Booms had been erected across the river and a bush railway had been constructed along one bank to a point on the Waihou lliver. The practice of the company was to haul logs on to the bank to place them on the railway trucks. Some logs escaped over the booms and were "jacked up" from the river bed further down. In times of Hood logs were floated down the river towards the sea. This was particularly the case in the Hood of May, 1924. The question was whether the damage caused to the bridge was due to the logs of the defendant company, continued Mr. Ilogben. There was no dispute that logs were carried down the river. Discussions regarding the damage had taken place between the parties four years ago, he said. The actual bringing of the claim was; only the last •step iu the proceedings. The amount was set down at the estimated cost of rebuilding the whole bridge, with a width less than that of the previous structure. No other company was engaged in bush-felling operations in the Kauaeranga Valley in May, 1924, said Henry Low, chairman of the Thames County Council, and an ex-Mayor of Thames. Practically the whole of the bridge.was in the county and only the eastern approaches were in the borough. To Mr. Johnston: The bridge was about forty years old and it had been considered for some time that a new bridge was essential. There was a difference of opinion between the borough and the county council on the question of site. The maintenance of the bridge had given much concern to the controlling bodies, the Borough Council favouring a more direct route than that of the Parawai Bridge. the flood of May, 1924, was one of the largest lie had known in fifty years, said Walter Thomas Onions, of Parawai, a concrete worker. On the morning of the flood he saw logs carried against the bridge by the torrent. Bridge Carries Away. Early on the morning of May 17, continued the witness, 4in or Sin of water was coming inside his house. He saw logs and timber being swept' down by the flood. One log, sft through, struck the bridge and lifted every stringer as it went underneath. He saw other logs below the bridge which could not have got through without causing damage. Ten minutes after leaving the bridge he heard a crash. "I ran out into the road and saw tlie whole of the bridge had carried away. About 10ft of it was going down the river with logs under it," said the witness. A punt which had been moored above the bridge was also carried down on the current, the witness said to Mr. Johnstone. He thought it broke in half before going under the railway bridge. Warning telegrams that a flood was coining were received on the day before the flood from the Kauri Timber Company's ranger by Henry John Trethowen, farmer, of Kauaeranga, who owned the barge moored in the river. It was loaded with metal, he said, and broke away during the flood. "I had no fault to find with the bridge," said Thomas Phillips, caretaker of the Thames racecourse, who, while in the employ of the County Council previously, had taken heavy loads of metal over it. On the evening before the flood the witness had seen the barge and noticed it was secured by three ropes. The following morning he saw the river rising rapidly, and a good many logs were being swept down. They were battering the barge and colliding with the bridge. The barge broke away, and followed some logs downstream. Next the witness observed the barge close to the bridge, and it turned turtle as the bridge gave way. Further witnesses gave evidence of the flood conditions. (Proceeding.)