DAIRY COMPANY SUFFERS

Northern Advocate, 3 February 1936, Page 6

DAIRY COMPANY SUFFERS

At six o’clock on Saturday night it became necessary to leave the flood in confrol at the Whangarei Co-oper-ative Dairy Company’s factory. The water rose with amazing rapidity, and the floor of the boilerroom was covered before the fires were drawn shortly after 3 o’clock. At this point, the water later reached a height of between four and five feet. The flood even stepped over the landing stage and penetrated into the cool room. In the short time available everything possible was done to preserve propery and, considering the magnitude of the flooding, the losses are remarkably light. The chief losses are:

Sixty 40-gallon drums of benzine, swept away to sea. The loss by saturation of several tons of soda. Minor damage to thousands of butter boxes. Loss of an unknown quantity of buttermilk powder stored for safer keeping in a house near the factory. All except about 1500 gallons of cream had been manufactured before the trouble arose on Saturday afternoon. Very little of this, or of butter stocks, was lost. The manager, Mr W. Millington, who was among the last to leave, had to wade through a swift current up to his hips in making his getaway. Commendable foresight ‘ was exercised in the quick removal of the company’s fleet of lorries from their garages to road level clear of water. Even so, two of the large lorries which could not be started up, had to be left behind, and were covered right over their bonnets. On Sunday morning the surroundings of the factory were a scene of the utmost desolation. The whole factory yard was torn up, and, in some places, crevices to a depth of three and four feet were being filled in. Right throughout the factory building it was necessary to remove anything upwards of two inches of silt before the day’s work could begin, while, in the boiler room, the silt deposit was over four inches deep. The administrative block, which stands on higher foundations, was also fldbded throughout.