STRUGGLES TO SAVE STOCK

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21198, 23 June 1934, Page 12

STRUGGLES TO SAVE STOCK

——.ii Flooded Farms Near Taupiri LOSSES THOUGHT TO BE FAIRLY HEAVY [THE PRESS Special Service.) AUCKLAND, June 22. Graphic stories are told by settlers in the Arini and Tehoe districts, near Taupiri, of their struggles during the whole of Tuesday and Wednesday nights and yesterday to rescue their stock. It is thought that stock losses are fairly heavy, particularly among pigs. Seeing the waters rise inch by inch, and realising by late on Tuesday night that there would be a high flood, the farmers prepared to care for their stock. Mr W. S. . Carter, of Tehoe, whose land is lowlying and fringing the Mangawara and Tauhei streams, struck trouble first. He set out on horseback with his dogs late on Tuesday night to shift his cattle to higher ground. Throughout Wednesday night, through paddocks which were becoming deeper in water, he sought to shift the cattle, which were becoming frightened and unruly. Eventually he found himself on a horse that was swimming, driving cattle which themselves coulci barely find their feet. Of course, as he said, the water was not uniformly at such a great depth, and at times neither the cattle nor his horse had difficulty in walking; but when the ground sloped away again his trouble began. He does not know yet whether he brought all the cattle to safety. Mr L. B. Dryden, who has a farm of 58 acres, saw his danger at 1 a.m. on Wednesday, when of his whole farm more than half was under water. He borrowed from the Public Works Department a rowing boat used for surveying, and in the darkness and rain he rowed over fences and thickets in search of his missing animals. He found them on little knolls of land, but when it came to feeling his way through the big tic.2S of the real bush, still in his boat, his task was not so easy.

At times, he said, he was in eight feet of water. Yesterday morning his cowshed and the surrounding country were awash at such a depth that gumtaoots were of no avaii. Another farmer attempted to rescue some of his pigs with a horse and dray. He saw the pigs on a little knoll barely large enough 1o hold them. They had bogged themselves, and were moving about in terror. He tried to get his horse nearer, but had to abandon the attempt when he was 10 feet from the knoll, at which stage his horse sank over its belly. The district is full of many similar narratives. NORMAL TRAIN SERVICES AUCKLAND TO THAMES AND BAY OF PLENTY (PBESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) AUCKLAND, June 22. Normal train services to the Bay of Plenty and Thames will be resumed to-morrow, the wash-outs on the flooded portion of the line between Te Aroha and Paeroa having been repaired this afternoon. The flood waters . which covered the line between Waitoki and Tirohia to a depth of more than two feet had receded sufficiently by midday to-day for an inspection to be made and repairs to be commenced. The ballast had been washed away to a depth of about one foot over a length of about a mile, and at one point a more serious wash-out had occurred. Work trains from Frankton and Paeroa were used to carry out repairs.