DAMAGE REPORT SOUGHT BY P.M.

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31654, 15 April 1968, Page 1

DAMAGE REPORT SOUGHT BY P.M.

The Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) has asked the Ministry of Works and local authorities to report on the situation in Canterbury after last week’s flooding and storm damage.

Earlier the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Kirk) had asked the Government for aid for the victims of the Canterbury floods. He had sent a telegram to the Prime Minister asking for a special disaster fund.

Mr Holyoake informed Mr Kirk that a report had been requested and that he hoped to have something to take to the Cabinet on Tuesday. Mr Kirk, who is also member of Parliament for Lyttelton, visited the flood-stricken areas in his electorate in Christchurch and on Banks Peninsula. “I have sent an urgent telegram to the Prime Minister saying that over parts of Christchurch and Banks Peninsula there has been tremendous damage to insured and uninsurable properties. “Many people face not only physical losses but also financial hardship in that necessary restoration could be beyond their immediate financial resources,” said Mr Kirk. “Therefore, I ask the Government to consider irnrne-

diately establishing a fund from which grants and/or interest-free loans can be made available for disaster victims for restoration and cleaning-up work where it is necessary and in approved cases,” he said.