GRANTS SOUGHT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 62, 14 March 1944, Page 6

GRANTS SOUGHT

LOSSES IN FLOODS REQUEST TO GOVERNMENT (0.C.) GISBORNE, this day. Growers of crops buried or washed awa3 r by last week's flood, together with the Chamber of Commerce, have decided to send an urgent message to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Agriculture and the members for the district, Messrs. \\ . Sullivan and D. W. Coleman, urging straightout grants for flood losses from the War Damages Fund. At a meeting held it was considered that the offer of a loan, covered by adequate security, was insufficient to meet many cases of hardship the flood had caused.

"This meeting," the resolution stated, "protests against the inadequate relief proposed by the Government for victims of the serious floods recently experienced here, such relief failing entirely to assist the most necessitous cases." The meeting was of opinion that floods should be regarded as national disasters coming within the same category as earthquakes or enemy action, and that relief should be granted through the damages fund. It was urged that all sufferers should be made straightout grants in respect of damage sustained, such damage to be assessed by the local Primary Production Council, or by a tribunal composed of representatives of Government Departments and producers' organisations. The meeting strongly urged that wherever possible members of the forces whose homes were in the flood areas be released immediately to assist in the work of reconstruction. Rcsowing Pastures Many farmers on the Gisborne flats have already begun sowing silted lands in the hope of securing grazing pasture by the winter. The work is being done by sowers walking barefoot over the silted areas and broadcasting seed, farmers preferring this method to waiting until the silt is dry enough to cultivate.

A number of farms are completely silted, and it is important for them to secure pasturage for their stock at the earliest possible moment, for, although there appears to be ample grazing available in some parts of the district, it is an expenditure that many can ill afford.

No reliable estimate is available 3 r et regarding the area which has to be resown, but in the 1932 flood, which occurred in February, when the Patutahi area was more thickly silted than that on the Waerenga-a-hika side, it was estimated that between 4000 and 5000 acres required resowing. The area may be somewhat more this year.

A steady demand exists for grass seed, mainly of the ryegrass-white clover mixture, sowing being done usually at the rate of li to two bushels to the acre. The price has hardened, and permanent pasture is selling in the vicinity of 16/6 a bushel f.o.b. Gisborne for lines with high germination and Durny certificates, while mother seed is quoted at IS/. White clover is being sold on the, basis of 2/6 to 4/6 per lb, the latter figure being for certified mother seed. Restoration Of Services Maize crops did not suffer a great deal in the flood, most of them standing up well to the rush of waters, while it is expected that even those crops which are still standing in water should mature. Old stocks of maize, of which little remains on the farms, were not affected by the flood, most of it being held in higher areas that were not subject to siltation.

The return to schedule running was completed yesterday on the Last Coast railway between Gisborne and Napier. The first goods train from Napier for over a week i eached Gisborne yesterday morning. and the normal express service lor passengers travelling north from v\ ellington was reinstituted. During the hold-up caused by slips on the hne a substantial accumulation of freight occurred at Napier and trains were doubled up yesterday morning for airoa and Gisborne. On the Motuhora branch line trains are now running on schedule between Gismol]l?. ar Rakauroa. It is hoped that by the end of the week the line will be again in service for its whole length. In the meantime a bus service is operating between Rakauroa and Motuhora. The condition of the main highway between Wairoa and Napier still bars through traffic on that section, and the service is now running bv way of the Kaiwaka route, which avoids the damaged section of the highway. Present advice is that the slips and washouts on the Devil's Elbow section will be cleared up bv Thursday or Friday, at least sufficiently to enable motorists to use the mam highway throughout.