HAWKE’S BAY’S EARTHQUAKE HARDSHIPS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 110, 3 February 1938, Page 10

HAWKE’S BAY’S EARTHQUAKE HARDSHIPS

•It was not to be expected that the Minister of Finance • could give an immediate answer" to the representations of the Hawke’s Bay local bodies who requested relief from obligations arising out of the disastrous earthquake losses suffered by the district. Strong reasons were advanced,/however, in support of the claim that the representations made warrant the favourable consideration of the Government. Much was done at the time of the earthquake freely and willingly by the then Government and the people of the Dominion to assist to lighten the ruinous losses sustained by the people of Hawke’s Bay. It was felt that the calamity was of such magnitude as to warrant it being regarded as a matter of national concern, and it was largely on that basis that the financial and economic losses were viewed. In the years that have since elapsed the fine spirit of the people of the district, with the assistance extended them from outside, has enabled a wonderful restoration to be carried out throughout the towns and countryside; and progress still continues. Unfortunately one legacy, "of the disaster which could not adequately be Measured at the time has become an increasing burden. That arose out of the damage done to the civic services created and controlled by the various local bodies. The known losses suffered by the local bodies —Borough Councils, Hospital Board, Harbour Board, River Board, Town Boards and County Council —totalled something like £760,000. To replace the community services involved in these losses the local bodies had to borrow just under £250,000, of which sum a little over £lOO,OOO, borrowed by the Napier Borough Council, has since been remitted by the Government. It is now asked that the balance (actually £147,416) should be remitted. The charges on these loans have been a continuing burden on a community crushed by disaster and struggling courageously to rehabilitate itself. The blirden, as Mr. Maddison, mayor of Hastings, well expressed it, was “incurred through no extravagance or negligence or fault of those upon whose shoulders it is at present placed.” It was entirely due to the great upheaval of Nature which occasioned such terrible loss and suffering. The loans it is sought to have remitted, of course, represent only a small part of the total burden actually carried by the people of Hawke’s Bay in the course of theijr struggle to restore what was lost. They have paid heavily and taxed their resources to, the utmost in the task of reconstruction and rehabilitation. The relief they now ask from the country as a whole just means to them a lightening of the load they have to bear, - and will continue to bear for many years to come. It is an appeal which in the circumstance must command the sympathetic consideration of the Minister of Finance and his colleagues.