TRAIL OF RUIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 26, 31 January 1934, Page 10

TRAIL OF RUIN.

HUGE FLOOD DAMAGE.

FORTUNES LOST OVERNIGHT,

HELP FROM GOVERNMENT.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, January 23. The tremendous inundation that overwhelmed the southern coastal districts a few days ago has left a trail of desolation behind it. Even now, when the flood waters have subsided, it is difficult to form any accurate estimate of the total kiss, incurred.

The first calculations ranged from £.-)0(),000 to £1,000,000 for this State alone, and even the larger amount seems likely to be exceeded. The N.It.M.A. published a sketch map of the flooded districts for the benefit of motorists; and it looks like an old guide to the Western Front, with broken bridges; landslips and impassable roads facing one at every turn. Mr. Stevens went down there on a tour of inspection last week, and so impressed was he by what he saw that he at once announced that Government would make an immediate grant of 2.1 per cent of the estimated cost of repairing damages, in accordance with the reports of the Main Roads Board's engineers.

Settlers' Courage. The Premier remarked upon the courage with which the farmers and settlers are facing a desperate situation. Many of them have lost from £.300 to £1000— sums which spell ruin to small cultivators. On the whole the outlook is worse than in 1919, the year of the "Great Flood," from which they etill measure time on the south coast. Of course, there have been many losses on a larger scale.

Hero is a short story that conies from a Melbourne paper, dealing with the flood in Ka.~t Gippsiand, where the overflow of the Snowy River spread disaster far and wide. On that terrible Sunday night "Toby" Nixon, a 32-year-old •settler, went to bed the owner of a property worth £20,000. To-day he is worth not half as many pence. Out of 200 acres under cultivation, barely 30 acres are left—thp remainder has been washed away. The waters tore a pruk-ii 20 chains wide and 50 chains long mid up to 20ft deep, through a rich maize crop.

The highest land on the estate has been washed away, and in its place is a 50-acre lagoon. ; Mr. Nixon had £3000 worth of farm plant, and all that remains is a tractor, a diec plough, a maize sower, and one horse collar. But Nixon is not sitting down wringing his hands in despair. lie comes of old pioneer stock, and he told the interviewer, "Well, I've got a little bit of machinery left, and there's 30 acres I can cultivate, so I'll start in again.' , Nature heivelf is powerless to conquer men like this, and, happily, there arc many thousands like him in Australia to-dfiv.