AN EMERGENCY MET

Northern Advocate, 6 February 1936, Page 4

AN EMERGENCY MET

The disastrous gales and floods experienced during the past weekend have imposed tremendous | strain on the staff of the Post and Telegraph Department. From one end of the North Island to the other, and from one coast to the other, there were few districts which did not suffer interruption of telegraphic and telephonic communication. Communities were absolutely cut off from even neighbouring districts, while it was impossible to make contact for some days with distant parts of the Dominion. Northland suffered very badly in this respect, as all the lines north and south were down. The task which confronted the staff of the department in attempting to get through flood waters and over roads on which huge slips bad occurred was an unenviable one, but it says much for their skill and persistence that communication is hack to normal today. The radio telephone proved its worth on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday, when it constituted practically the only link with the outside world. Enlargement of this service, as a safeguard against possible interruptions of the telegraph lines in the future, would seem to be de-

sirable. The department is to he heartily congratulated upon the successful manner in which it grappled with, a trying emergency. The same thing is to he said of the Railway Department, for, though the magnitude of the disaster with which it has had to deal has so far prevented the resumption of normal traffic, very substantial progress has been made, and there is ground for belief that it will not be long before services are restored in their entirety.