STOPBANK CUT

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 229, 27 August 1929, Page 7

STOPBANK CUT

UNAUTHORISED ACT. NEARLY A FLOOD. DAMAGE NARROWLY AVERTED. Per Press Association. CARTERTON, Aug. 27. An attempt was made some time early on Sunday by some person or per- ; sons unknown to wreck the stopbank guarding the Ruamahanga River at a point at the rear of Mr Stuart Reid’s residence, Kahutara. At the time the iriver was in high flood, running within six feet of the top of the bank. The perpetrators’ cut a breach 20 feet long and six feet deep in the hope, apparently, that the water wouid do the rest and flood Mr C. Elgar’s property as well as that of other residents living further down the valley. Luckily the flood water had reached its height and only a trickle came through. Had the attempt succeeded, 3000 sheep and hundreds of head of cattle belonging to Mr Elgar, as well as stock on Mr J. O. Sutherland’s and Mrs L. Sinclair’s farms, besides many others, would have been destroyed! There is also every probability that human life would have been lost too. Luckily the attempt was unsuccessful. The matter is now in the hands of the police. It is understood that a detective is making inquiries and further developments are likely to result.