THE CALAMITY IN HAWKE'S BAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10423, 22 April 1897, Page 4

THE CALAMITY IN HAWKE'S BAY.

The disastrous floods in Hawke's Bay, the full effects of which have yet to be told, will, wo have no doubt, touch a chord of sympathy that Will vibrate throughout New Zealand. It seems a strain on the humane feelings of the public, that just as a generous contribution had been made for the sufferers by the famine in India, a call should have come to assist our own fellowcolonists in the adjacent provincial district. But while the people of the colony have shown themselves ever ready to listen to the voice of suffering however far away, there is a claim in kith and kindred that comes nearer home, and we feel assured that a prompt and generous response will be rendered to the call of suffering that comes to us from the ruins and desolation of our nearest neighbours. The district in Hawke's Bay which is the scene of the disaster is unhappily exposed to visitations of this kind, but never before to any thing embracing such an amount of suffering and loss. Floods have been there before, and at an earlier period when settlement in the district had not been so general the depth and sweep of the waters had been perhaps as great. But on this occasion the density of settlement has added to the magnitude of the disaster, and the great loss of life has given a sadness to the incident that was generally wanting before. The' settlers who have suffered now appear to be mainly of the humbler and struggling class; and ot most of them it has been the absolute wreck of .. all . their , fortunes, The wealthier, residents ' whose sheep and cattle have been swept away can no doubt rise over the misfortune, and they neither desire nor need assistance, But very pitiful is the case of those who looking out over the sodden plains see nothing but the grave of buried hopes, and after years of toil and care and .saving, have. destitution - staring them in the face. Even actual want of food in many cases adds to the urgency of their misfortune, and altogether this disaster appeals in a very touching way to everyone that has i.the ability to render even the least assistance, and whose feelings can realise the bitterness of the sufferings of those who in a ! brief few hours, from comparative competence and comfort, have been plunged into destitution and despair. il We can see from the statements' coming in from every quarter, that, like " the Brunner disaster, this calamity has gone at once to the 'hearts: of the ! people of New Zealand, and we feel confident that the people of Auckland ; will give place to no others in ■ the 1 earnestness v and liberality with which ; help ; will; be rendered, It is needless to - say that ' this ; movement, is not to reinstate in their ? homesteads,' with all the surroundings in which they had been, living, those unfortunate settlers who have been washed out The painful uphill worK of. lifting >themselves over the effects of the, disaster will; have to

be carried through by themselves ■ but the immediate sufferings ami the destitution of the unfortunate victims of the disaster call urgently for relief. Those more particularly who hive had th? loss of relations, who may have been their principal means of support, added to the loss of. their property, have the greatest claims on sympathy; and in this connection the public thought will rightly turn, first to the ease of the families of the men who risked and lost their lives in the heroic effort to save the lives and the property of others. The ten 'volunteers who so gallantly manned the boats and dashed into that soene of whirling waters, to be themselves swept away to cle»tli,_ appear to have left dependent families. These people should become the Wards of the people of New Zealand; Who, We have 110 doubt, will show that they do not readily forget such aots of heroism and self-saoritica in the cause of humanity. Unhappily the list of the drowned is added to as fuller details come to hand, and probably there are few of those deaths that have not brought irreparable joss to families and friends. The full extent of the disaster is nob yet ascertained, but enough is known to call for the most heartfelt sympathy and generous help of the people of Auckland.