MAROONED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 180, 2 August 1938, Page 10

MAROONED.

ELLERSLIE HOUSES.

RESIDENT USES STILTS. DUCKBOARDS IN YARDS. EELS SWIMMING ON LAWN. Marooned by flood waters that lie to a depth of more than 2ft at the front of their property, the residents in four houses on the Great South Road, Ellerslie, have had access to the road completely cut off since Saturday last. To get provisions they are obliged to walk across roughly-rigged duckboards in •their backyards, cross a rocky and black-berry-infested section at the rear,- climb over a etone wall and walk along the railway tracks until they reach the road.

"There is no reason on earth why the fire brigade could not come and pump these sections out," said Mr. E. A. Booth, of 510, Great South Road, Ellerelie, today. "It wouldn't take long and it would make the places reaeonably habitable."

Mr. Booth was busy putting the finishing touches on a pair of stilts, intended to carry him between the road and the front verandah. "I haven't walked on these things for years," he said, "but I think T van still remember how it's done." Successful Demonstration. He could. He staggered jerkily around the yard, keeping his balance like a veteran stilt-walker. Apart from a little difficulty with soft ground and a sucking noise as he pulled a stilt leg from the mud, the demonstration was a great success.

At the back of thie houee this morning there were 10in of water, even though the flooding has subsided since Sunday. The undrained hollow in which the houses lie is flooded pmctically every year and has been almost into the kitchen of the Booth home on previous occasions.

All sorts of flotsam and jetsam floats around the house, brought from rubbish dumps in the vicinity. Mr. Booth said the family had an interesting time seeing what would come along next. When they saw. a snail swirl past, clinging desperately to an empty tobacco-tin, yesterday a cheer was raised.

But what annoys the household is a goose that. swims under the house at night and keeps them awake.

Fishing From Verandah.

However, Mr. and Mrs. Edlin, who are marooned next door, can offer a great sporting programme for the adventurous. Their son has found that there are numerous eels swimming around the front lawn and spends a happy time on the verandah with a fishing line. No catches have been recorded to date, but the question they are asking is: "Where do eels come from in the winter time?"

When the flood.was at its height there was a melancholy howling from the garage at the rear. Investigation showed that the family cat had been marooned on an island of gear in the garage. A hasty rescue was made and the cat was given a bed inside the house. The next houee, occupied by Mr. and Mrs. R. Richarda, Iβ eo completely isolated that there ie no access either back or front and a duckboard walk has been constructed to the houee of the adjoining neighbour, Mrs. Mills, from which one can "get ashore."

At two house* complaint* were received that the contents of the Ellerslie septic tank*, were caught up. in the flood watere and, after they subsided, a white ecum was left over the ground. It ie not expected that the- water will have soaked away under about eight or ten days.