REMEMBER KARAMEA!

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6947, 28 June 1929, Page 7

REMEMBER KARAMEA!

PLEA ON BEHALF OF 800 ISOLATED ’QUAKE VICTIMS

How Bailer Line Was Restored

A strong protest against the apathy of the authorities in leaving the 800 men, women and children of Karamea for 11 days without relief and communication has been made by leaders of the district, who appeal to New Zealanders to remember Karamea, A further severe jolt was experienced at Westport last evening. The unvarnished record of the linesmen in restoring the telegraph service between Murchison and the outside world is an epic of heroic, concentrated endeavour under the most heart-breaking conditions.

Karamea Settlement Isolated for 11 Days APPEAL TO NEW ZEALAND. VISITED’ BY PLANE ONCE SINCE GREAT UPHEAVAL Per Press Association. WESTPORT, Last Night. As the Moth ’piano which has been standing by in Westport to assist Karamea is under instructions not to leave for there to-day, Messrs M. McLean (chairman of the Bullcr County council) who resides in that district and came by ’plane on Saturday last with Captain Barr ell and Mr. G. C. Black, member for the district, have decided to walk to Karamea via Corby Vale,. which they hopo to reach tomorrow night. They have handed the following statement to the press:— Murchison and Karamea are the two districts that were most affected by the recent disastrous earthquake. Thanks to tho splendid Now Zealand manhood that stepped in and organised matters there, Murchison has been practically c-vacuatcd. Karamea, and its 800 men, woman .and children is in a different plight. Tho ’planes arrived in Westport oil Tuesday afternoon of last week and the Moth did not come to Karamea until the following Friday, when Mr. McLean came out. It returned on the Saturday, with serum for diphtheria. Since then, there has been no communication with the , settlers and on Sunday there were two big shakes that decided the Murchison committee to get its people to Nelson.

away to a safer place but no sooner had they got one section clear, than another was broken by falling trees, earth and rocks. By ten o’clock, however, communication was restored but by four in tho afternoon, it had gone again. Following the lino along, they found that trees had smashed throe spans of lino completely. There was no sleep again that night, with wet clothes and no fires. All Over Again. On the Wednesday morning, it was found that tho slip had broken tho lines again. This was two miles from the Owen and a considerable amount of rock and slush came down with tho trees, causing much damage to tho line. Poles had to bo tied back on to trees and strutted up in various ways. Communication with Murchison was restored at 3.30 o’clock. Mr. Jenkins proceeded: "Wo then went back towards Glenhopo a'nd found a big slip had occurred on Brown’s cutting, causing four poles to be completely pushed forward. After digging tons of earth away from the poles, wo were ablo to straighten them up to allow the wires to bo joined again. At ono time we were on top of a polo when a particularly big shake came along, which nearly shook us off. Communication was again restored by five o’clock on the Wednesday evening. "That night we were again at Eac’s, ostensibly for sleeping purposes but not one had any sleep, due to continuous detonations and shakes, with the noise of falling hillsides all around. "On Thursday rain was still falling and slips coming down on the line caused a largo number of contacts ab along the line. Tho contacts and earths were too numerous to count. Clearing these occupied pretty well the whole of the day and it was not until long after dark that wo reached Rae’s for the night. Recalled to Murchison. "On Friday, we had numerous contacts to attend to but this was an easy day, as things were going at that time. Only light rain fell on Saturday and the lines generally were 0.K., and we left for Nelson in the afternoon but on Sunday, we were sent back to Murchison, as all communications had been cut off.

“We desire to protest most emphatically at the lack of organise tion 'Which has led to this sorry state of affairs and appeal to all New Zealand to remember the Karamea settlement in the matter of urgent relief. The Prime Minister’s message to the people here and the £2OO which he has provided for immediate relief is the only bright spot in Karamea’s history of the past 11 days.” Remarkable Devotion Of Telegraph Linesmen LINES or STAKE. WEEK OF ENDURANCE WITHOUT ANY SLEEP.

“We arrived at Glenhope at 1.45 and proceeded to Murchison, restoring the line as we went. A welcome meal was served us at the refugees’ camp and wo slept on the floor of Mr; Mann’s house, which was a complete wreck. “On Monday, communications had again been cut off and we set out for Glenhope, when we got to Doctor’s creek. We found we could not cross the Tiver, owing to tho bridge being tipped, so leaving our lorry, we clambered up tho tipped-up bridge and slid down to tho other slide, pushing along ou foot for two miles with heavy rain falling all tho time and with slips sliding in front of us, till wc got to The Staircase, whore wo found a whole gully had been blocked, caused by the top 'of the big hill at the head of tho gully coming down.

EPISTLE TO NEWSPAPERS,

NELSON, Last Night. What difßculties would havo been enjountcred in getting refugees away from Murchison if the telegraph lines of communication had not been kept open cannot bo imagined. Life depended on the wires remaining intact. It, however, was a very severe and perilous task the telegraph linesmen, with many workers in other directions, have made history for New Zealand during the past 10 days. The earthquake cut off all communication with Murchison and it was not until Mr. B. F. Speers somehow or other made the perilous journey to Glenhope on the actual day of tho occurrence and reported that the outside world knew what had happened. Immediately, a party of telegraph linesmen was organised to restore, communi cation. The party consisted of Mr. T. H Jenkins, line foreman, of Nelson, and the following linesmen, Messrs C. J. Kerr, E. Constable, C. Nicoll and P. Holland. While they recognised the importance of their work and what might depend on it in tho way of life and death at the other end, the thing that kept them going most of all; they wanted to pay a tribute especially to tho heroic work of tho rescue parties m the valleys before describing their own experiences. Mr, Jenkins said it was amazingly remarkable • how well matters had been arranged at Murchison and how splendidly those who had entered into the work of one kind or another had acted. A Week for Titans. Early on Tuesday morning, Mr. Jenkins and his party were well along the Buller road to the Owen when they found the biggest break in the wires. The Owen River hotel was a wreck and no food or accommodation was available and they had to make their headquarters at Rae’s house. After hard work on tho lines nearly all day, they repaired to this shattered house to sleep but sleep was impossible, with continuous 'quakes and rolling hillsides all round.

At The Staircase. “When the flood waters broke, huge trees were brought down, blocking the road. It was just- like the Buller river itself in flood, but with big masses of timber being hurled about in all directions.

“Wc waded across up to our thighs in mud and slush and managed to give communication on a Morso wire, only it was not possiblo to stay any longer, owing to tho danger of the whole hillside sliding. As a matter of fact, wo could see the sides near the rushing waters sliding all the time. Wc returned to Mangarata and warned Murchison of tho danger and later ourselves went back to Murchison. By evening, however, all communication had gone again. “On Tuesday morning, our unwelcome nows was that all lines had gone. Wo left Murchison at 6.30 and clambered over the tipped-up bridge at Doctor’s creek and ‘porbooted’ it to Tho Staircase, the scene of tho recent washout. Wc found that huge trees which were there the previous night blocking tho road had been shifted like matchwood right on to the bed of tho Buller river and leaving four times as much newly fallen timber and mud on the road. Wc clambered through mud and slush up to our waists and wero able, with the aid of insulated wire, to give communication. Tho wires which had been there previously had been completely washed away. Lines O.K. “I left tho lino foreman, Mr. G. Arnold (station foreman at Murchison) at the scene of the break, with a telephone, so as to bo in communication with both sides in the event of anything occurring again until tho last of the refugees had got safely over tho slip- ' _ “All lines have since held up. Yesterday (Wednesday) the lines were all O.K. and after their trying experience, the men were returned to Nelson.” Mr. Jenkins then joined the chief

They were out at five next morning, working on lines to the accompaniment, of falling -hillsides and trees above them. It seemed useless to keep a weather eye open to get away frora falling slips. The best course was to push the work through quickly and get

engineer’s party which consisted of Messrs A. Gibbs, chief telegraph engineer; J. McDermott, district telegraph engineer, Wellington; and A. D. Baggs, Nelson and had como through to tho scene of the earthquake to ascertain requirements. The engineers did not return to Nelson until 10 o’clock last night. Tho journey out vjus a very trying one, with great flashes of lightning and loud thunderclaps overhead and detonations.

On Tuesday morning, men from tho refugee camp, organised by Messrs McConnachie and Frank McWlia, went t.n Doctor’s creek to erect a temporary bridge, then felled trees making two stringers and placed sufficient decking on it to allow car 3to cross. At Tho Staircase, they split a tree in half, placed it across the gully and dug a track round tho siding. Refugees Restore Bridges.

By this means, they got tho refugees over safely and then went on to a clay bank where the bridge had been washed away. They dug a track down tho gully and made another temporary bridge with one tree, which was squared. They then put on a little hand-rail for safety . Then they made a track up tho hill to the road again, where tho cars met them on the other side and thus tho final lot of refugees reached Nelson safely. One of the very remarkable features of the earthquake disaster at Murchison ha 3 been the way the situation has been handled by the people themselves. The Minister for Education (Hon. H. Atmorc) and the Hon. J. G. Coates, who spent somo time in the township and all other visitors bavo been greatly impressed with the way this small community rose to organise itself to collect all its people and to evacuate them all over a long journey fraught with considerable peril. In the township, almost before sufficient time had elapsed to enable the people to collect their wits after their awful experience with the hidden forces of nature, a Committee of Public Safety come into existence and from the very commencement, there was evidence of wise guidance, a ready response to calls for assistance and a strong determined effort. A community which has so excellently extricated itself from its difficult position will not fail before subsequent problems. The question of the acceptance of relief is already coming to tho foro but it may be taken for granted that the right thing will bo done. Sparing of Receiving Charity.

Mr. Hugh Fraser, the Murchison county clerk, writes in the Mail as follows to Murchison refugees in Nelson- " Now that there are so many of us in Nelson—over GOO all told—it seems to mo that wc should begin to take stock of ourselves and our attitude in regard to the question of relief. Prob ably because of the really terrifying experiences we have gone through we have to some extent lost our proper sense of proportion but wo should lose no time in recovering our balance, particularly with regard to the acceptance of money or other assistance. Funds for tho relief of distress have 'been most generously subscribed but that is no reason why some of us who havo not been reduced to a condition of distress should too readily avail ourselves of the opportunity of accepting assist-' ance, whether it be in money or in kind.

"No doubt it is because we have not properly understood the position that there have been abuses. We do not realise the fact that only those who have no ready money of their own should lino up to the town clerk’s offico and accept Tolief money and only those who are unablo to buy their own should go to the Y.M.C.A. The Correct Perspective.

“It is admitted that there are many of us who unfortunately have been hit so hard by the earthquake as to be entitled to accept both money and clothes and it cannot bo denied that there are a few who have accepted clothes or money, particularly money, who should not have done so. The anomaly of it is that some of us who havo acceptod money arc infinitely better off than some of those kindhearted people who, in their sympathv for us, have given when they could ill afford to do so. Let us therefore all try to got a correct view of tho whole business, so that by our actions and our attitude, wc may preserve our own self-respect and tho confidence, not only of the people of Nelson but of tho Dominion as a whole from whence relief funds are being received.”

Marlborough Outside Earthquake District

WRONG IMPRESSION CORRECTED. BLENHEIM, Last Night. Apparently, an entirely wrong impression that tho province of Marlborough was more ox loss ravaged by the recent earthquake has not been overtaken by tho facts. In referring at Westport this week to the allocation of relief funds, Mr. H. E. Holland, M.P., said the principal sufferers are in the northern and western portions of the South Island, covering three clear-ly-defined goorgraphicol areas namely (1) Nelson, Murchison, and Marlborough; (2) Buller; (3) Grey Valley. The whole of Marlborough, as tho Express pointed out in its protest against the grouping of the province with Murchison and Nelson ou the map issued by tho government seismologist, is practically unscathed and there will bo no demand from this quarter on tho relief funds. It is regrettable, says tho Express, that the truth is taking such a long time to penetrate to tho outsido world, for national as well as local reasons and it is desirable that tho misunderstanding should be corrected far and wide. The government since it is concerned to lot the world know that the destructive nature of the earthquake had distinctly limited incidence, might very well take note of the persistence of this wrong impression.

No Sunday Pictures For Earthquake Fund

CHRISTCHURCH OFFER DECLINED' CHRISTCHURCH, Last Night. An offer was made to the Mayor by Christchurch Cinemas Ltd., to give exhibitions pf pictures at ika four

theatres under the company’s control on Sunday evening in aid of the Mayor’s earthquake relief fund. It was proposed that tho whole of the gross proceeds should go to tho fund. It was also suggested that the council’s action should not he taken as a precedent. The offer was considered at a special meeting by the laws committee of the council to-day and was declined,_ on the general ground that, the committee was not favourable to the screening ol pictures on Sunday’s. Heavy and Prolonged Shakes ANOTHER UNCANNY NIGHT. BULLER BEARING BIG QUANTITY OF TIMBER. WESTPORT, Last Night.

Quakes have been fairly quiet since early this morning but at 8.35 p.m. there was a heavy and prolonged shake, which will help to make another uncanny night for the people. ’Quakes are much easier to face in daylight than in tho dark. . An electrical storm, with interludes of hail, has been taking place most of the day and night. Tho Bullcr river is in flood. It is carrying with it to sea an unusually large quantity of timber, adding colour to reports from up country oi the hills having been cleared by big laud slides down to tho rivers. Three slips, which may take a week or more to clear, havo come down on the Buller-Reefton road. Passengers and mails got through by a detour through Walker’s swamp land. Tho work of the demolition of the Post office building is proceeding. Contributions to the relief fund received by the Mayor (Mr. Harkncss) included £IOOO by an anonymous donor,

Greymoutli Reports Additional Shakes

EVENING DISTURBANCES.

GREYMOUTH, Last Night. Further earthquakes wero felt here this evening, a shock at 8.35 being followed in a few seconds by a heavier one, but no damage resulted. Few, if any definite tremors were felt during the day. Mayor’s Relief Fund CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED TOTAL £199.

Additional contributions forwarded to the Mayor for the relief of sufferers from the earthquake in the stricken area arc as follow: —

£ s d Previously acknowledged .. 65 5 0 Manawatu Pacing Club . .. 50 0 0 J. P. Innes 10 0 0 Manawatu Evening Standard 10 0 0 10 0 0 J. B. Wither 5 5 0 5 5 0 Millar and Giorgl 5 5 0 C J. Monro .. 5 0 0 5 0 0 Bompsy and Litchfield • • 5 0 0 3 0 Mrs M. Voss (Karere) . .. 3 0 0 E. Crosso 2 0 Court Manawatu, A.O.F. . .• 2 0 2 0 0 O 0 0 2 0 0 Stewards, Manawatu Club 2 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 Alec Saunders .. .. .... 1 1 1 0 0 "E.B.” and “E.M.B.” . .. 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 10 G 10 0 10 0 0 Mrs J. G. Cressy 5 A *\Y 5 0 ft yc 1. *. .. .. . . 3 0 2 0 Total 198 19 6