OBLITERATED CAMP

Evening Star, Issue 22891, 24 February 1938, Page 5

OBLITERATED CAMP

EVIDENCE OF CLOUDBURST UNPRECEDENTED IN HISTORY (Per United Press Association) GISBORNE, Feb. 23. The Minister of Public Works (Mr R. Semple), in company with Mr J. Wood, engineer-in-chief of the Public Works Department, inspected the site of Boyd’s camp on the railway works to-day. This camp was obliterated by the flood at the same time as the Kopuawhara tragedy. Boyd’s camp is near the Gisborne end of the line, whereas Kopuawhara is only a few miles from the southern end. At Boyd’s camp, seven married couples, 16 children, and several single men escaped in their night attire as the flood descended in the Maraetaha stream. One life was lost—a married man named William Robinson, whose body has not yet been recovered. Two bridges were also washed away. Standing on the bank of the Maraetaha river beside the site of the concrete bridge which was washed away, Mr Semple said that what he had seen confirmed the conclusion that he had arrived at previously from a study of the reports made to him in Wellington—that a cloudburst had been the cause of the terrific amount of damage and the appalling loss of life, and that nothing like it had happened in the history of man in New Zealand or perhaps for centuries before that. “The evidence on both sides of the hills proves that,” Mr Semple said. “Here close by we have new evidence of the old fortifications used by Maoris in defence against Te Kooti 68 years ago. These fortifications had never been silted up until this flood, which is clear evidence that this has been a phenomenal flood. This bridge which has been washed away had three steel and concrete spans, each weighing about 50 tons. They were carried fourchains down the river. They were not left on the river bed, but were thrown up on the bank. That will give some idea of the force of the water. The other • bridge, which was built of timber and which was washed away, had been up for 25 years. The previous bridge on this site had been on exactly the same level and in the same position for about 40 years. What happened here also occurred on the other side of the hills, and it was the same cloudburst.

“ The lucky thing is _ that the people here were not subject to the same experience as those at Kopuawhara, where a portion of the river was blocked before the water could find -an outlet,” Mr Semple continued. “The indications at Kopuawhara were that the water just above the camp reached a level of approximately 12ft higher than the camp site. At Boyd’s camp, on the Gisborne side of the hills, the people were able to get away on to high ground, whereas No. 4 camp at Kopuawhara was inundated and the occupants trapped as the stream came down like a tidal wave.” Referring to the preliminary estimate of £50,000 applied to the damage done to the railway construction works in the Waikokopu-Gisborne area, Mr Semple said that the construction work on the line would be set back at least three months and probably more than that while men were being taken from railway work to concentrate their efforts on repairing the flood damage. “I am pleased that I have made this visit of inspection,” Mr Semple said. “I have now seen for myself what has happened. It has been one of the saddest experiences of my life. The boys who have gone were representative of New Zealand’s best and they have left their mark in the heroism they displayed in their last moments, as well as in the work they accomplished. My investigation has convinced me beyond doubt that no blame can be attached to anybody. As I have stated previously, it was an act of God.” The Minister further referred to the heroic efforts made by many of those who had perished in the Kopuawhara flood in trying to save the lives of others, and expressed deep sympathy with relatives of the deceased and encouragement to those who were left to go on with the job. “I have nothing but the highest praise for the engineering staff’s work, the energies of the police and the readiness with which tradespeople came to the rescue with food supplies, sometimes at considerable risk, for they had to traverse desolate hilltops,” Mr Semple said, “To all these I express-the sincere sentiments of gratitude of the Government.”

Referring again to the phenomenal nature of the flood, Mr Semple said he had been told that the oldest Maoris living at the Gisborne end of the works maintained that nothing had ever happened in Maori history to compare with the magnitude of the recent floods.