CLEARING A SLIP, IN THE NORTH

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 85, 9 April 1924, Page 5

CLEARING A SLIP, IN THE NORTH

STRENUOUS EFFORTS GO FOR

NOTHING

WORKERS IN PERILOUS SITUATION.

(BT TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL TO THE POST.I — • AUCKLAND, This Day. •" Five times -worse than before." After slogging ia for nearly . four . .days, wet through, sixty men -working up to their waists in mud and slush most of the time,'on Monday afternoon saw all their strenuous efforts swept away, ■ and row the last state of the line at Takekeroa tunnel, sixteen miles from Helensville, is worse than the first, five times.. It will mean days of'toil before a train can pass this gigantic topsy-turveydom. Slips came down last week at both ends of the tunnel, and inside the tunnel itself there were fifteen feet of debris and water swept down from the north end. What was once fine bush full of tough wire like supplejacks came down last week in the original slips, and in its progress down the hillside it was churned over and over until it swirled over the line and filled up the permanent way. Twisted through this slush, slime, rock's, and debris run treacherous supplejacks squirmed up into something ' like the barbed-wire entanglements of the latewar. AN INGENIOUS SCHEME. „ Tluit^was the sort of thing, says a Star reporter, the gang of men, same sixty in number, Mr. Low. District Engineer of Railways, lias under his charge has been struggling with for nearly four aays, cutting and slashing at steel-like supplejacks, struggling with sloppy debris, hauling and pulling at the big timber scattered through the mass Wet through, but still cheerful, the gang , tolled and moiled all day. Human hands were found to be too feeble for'the job, so the heads hit on the ingenious scheme o^ borrowing a five-hundredweight anchor from the shipping people at Helensville. This was sent up to the. scene ol the struggle, and used as a'sort of •' land haul." Forty-five men got hold of the'tail rope and dragged by. main force, " pulley haul," the ponderous anchor to the top end of the slip, where it got agood-" bite." This was where the supplejacks came in hand. Attached to the anchor was a stout wire rope, and this was made fast to the engine, which, when the signal was given, steamed slowly south and away came the anchor, bringing with it a few tons of tho supplejack-bound debris. A cheer went ' up, and then da capo! The long line cl men swatted, on to the tail rope, the anchor was returned to the. back end of the slip, the engine gave a warning toot,'' and once more hauled down a lew hundreweight. Great progress'was made, and the wet but willing workers had the satisfaction on Monday afternoon of seeing the line practically clear. A BITTER BLOW. Then came the bitter blow! Without a word of warning another great slip cr, rather, series of slips, came away from the hillside like a shot biif-.0l a gun. Tumbling, swirling, and squirming, down came a good slide of New Zealand, and in a twinkling of an eyo the nearly-clear track was obliterated and piled high with slush and mud" five times worse than before." ' So sudden was the avalanche that a 'lot of men t'.adly caught behind the slip that dammed up the way.- A miniature lake was formed, and one man working near tho amnel mouth was .literally washed away. Al. that his mates could see of him being a bobbing hat. He was washed on to a safe point, fortunately. ".'.■,."."".■ Scrambling back towards" the bush" on the right-hand side .of the line, the~meu that were cut off from the main pavtv jumped to safety,.but between them and the Helensville side of the, slip there was a su-irl of water.-. Luckily the tail, rope ■of the anchor was on the side ■ of- the nuu-ooned men, and this enabled them to get back to safety. Using it as a life line, they were hauled through the water and joined the main party. One ortwb of them fell off during the passage-of clanger, but they were pluckily retrieved A big, muscular Maori, named Castles" did good work in rescuing the cut-off party. . . i It was an exciting time, and in'the hurry and dash of getting the men over the torrent the party had no time , to contemplate or to realise the complete annihilation of their long and desperate efforts at clearing the original slip. Luckily the engine used in hauling tho tram on which the party travelled to and from Helensville, the nearest place where accommodation • can be had for sucli''"-i large number of men, was able to scoot. It literally scooted, clear of the .landslide, and it pulled up out of the dsnger zone. . ■ b