SILT-COVERED FARMS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 142, 12 March 1938, Page 13

SILT-COVERED FARMS

Poverty Bay Lessees May Abandon Holdings RESULT OF RECENT FLOOD By Telegraph—Press Association. Gisborne, March IlGeneral farmers on the Poverty Bay flats whose properties were left under a thick coating of silt as a result of heavy flooding last month, are, it is understood, seriously considering abandoning their holdings and seeking land or employment elsewhere. • The men concerned are farmers of leasehold lands and consequently have no particular stake in the properties. The areas were washed by flood w’aters and left covered with silt and driftwood and now \ present a desolate scene. Rather than face the labour and expense of clearing and regrassing those areas, which are not their own, they feel it would be more economical from their own viewpoint to seek a home elsewhere. A similar course is being considered by some who suffered on the East Coast. One farmer who recently took up occupation on property of his own and who lost even his furniture in the floods, is reported to have walked off the farm, contending that he could never retrieve what he lost by remaining there and that it was cheaper to abandon the property and make a fresh start elsewhere.