THE RECENT CLOUDBURST.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 27 March 1922, Page 4

THE RECENT CLOUDBURST.

(To the Editor)

Sir, —To whom are we to go? What can we do? 1 crave permission for space in your valuable columns to vent.late a real grievance affecting settlers who were unfortunate enough to dwell in that disastrous cloudburst district of Matemateonga and Omoana, an experience which I am sure all within that area will never wish to experience again. It is going i^> cost these settlers hundreds of pounds to restore the damage done to fences, to say nothing of the land slips, with stock and grass gone, leaving barren sandstone ridges to be added to the already barren land included in each year's agricultural returns. All this the farmer has to overcome the best way he can, with last year's slump and this year's uncertain markets on his back. In this predicament the Government have given some relief in allowing the Public Works Department men to clear the main road of slips. Three men have come and. gone, and it is difficult to see where the £1500 has been spent. Motor cars can pass over this main road with chains on, and lorries get bogged. Some side roads they never touched at all; although these settlers suffered in an equal degree nothing had been done to give any assistance. Why does the Public Works Department not see its clear duty and treat all those who suf- j fered alike? Are they to be penalised because they dwell a mile off the main road? We are told by the Public. Works Department that the Coimty; Council should clear these roads. The County Council tell us they have no money and cannot obtain the rat«s without driving these slump-driven cloudburst settlers into bankruptcy. The settler remains between the devil and the deep sea. No hope of getting their wool out to help them along through a difficult time. The Public Works tell us that the whole of the county should bear some of the burden. The other ridings say nay. They take up the attitude towards a drowning man —let him sink or swim, don't trouble us. I think in a case of t>>e kind the Government sho^M hear the bulk of the burden, but I also think the other Tidings should assist in son»^ measure with mci ;f not with money. It is only a neighbourly action thi+ -would be more than appreciated by all who. for the present, are experiencing more than their full. —I am, etc., / A. GRAY, Matemateonga.