THE FLOODS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13395, 25 January 1907, Page 6

THE FLOODS.

.THE POKENO - HUNTLY SECTION. RAILWAY STILL UNDER WATER. TRANSPORTING OF PASSENGERS. BY OUR SPECIAL REPORTER. Tn« Pokeno -Huntly section of the railway is still at the bottom of a vast lake of murky yellow, flood waters, and one would need* a." diving-dress and equipment to examine the permanent way just now. The prospect of through railway communication is still remote, and at the present rate of fall of the flood waters it will be the middle of next week before the repairing gangs will be able to survey the sections of the railway now inundated. So far the. water has only dropped some 18in from its highest mark, and it yet has many feet to go down before any large section of the line will Inexposed. Of course, the draining of the big swamps higher up country has had the effect of throwing the water mote quickly on the lower lands. Whereas the water formerly lay in the up-country swamps for a week or so, it now gets away quickly, with the result that there has been a tremendous backing up of the river over the low swamps around Mercer, and the slow fall is attributed to the fact that the water cannot get ;»ut quickly enough at Waikato Heads. A canoe trij over some portions of the flooded area yesterday afforded a Herald reporter a view of miles upon miles of water; everywhere there is deep water, and,the whole country is simply one greatlake. Indeed, one might imagine Pokeno was a waterside resort, and that the lake had been always there. Boats and canoes of all sorts and sizes are to be seen travelling to and fro, and steamers and oil launches, towing great barge boats, travel up and down, as though the lake was a favourite tourist resort. Of course the slowness of the fall may l>e a blessing in disguise, as a rapid tall would undoubtedly tear the permanent wav to pieces, and probably wreck several heavy embankments, whereas a slow fall of the back water may leave the larger portion of the submerged section practically undamaged. There is not so much hope, however/ for the line between Huntly and Rangiriri. where the water v. ill be more confined, and a considerable current is expected in some places there, with consequent damage to the line. Only Tin of fall was registered from Wednesday night till midday yesterday. It is almost impossible without actual observation to realise the dislocation of traffic resulting from the floods. 'ions upon tons of butter are stored in the dairy factories awaiting transport to Auckland and Glasgow grading store?, and. as the factories are unable to provide cool storage for much butler, the stocks aie likely to suffer .serious deterioration in this warm weather. Then, again, there are large quantities of wool awaiting transport, and thousands of fat lambs already sold for freezing have to be kept by the farmers, and maintained in condition pending restoration of traffic, a source of very serious loss. Moreover, where pastures are flooded the dairy tows, deprived of their accustomed quantity of rich feed, have gone off in milk, and there, is no hope of bringing them back again this season. Very large areas of crops also have been ruined. Everywhere great lines of sheaves pie to be seen in the paddocks already sprouting again. That grain now is, of course, only tit for manure. EMBARKING AT THE WATER FRONT. Through passengers are having some unique experiences at the present time, and their transport is not unattended with humorous incidents. The trains now run a mile or so beyond Pokeno, and then halt just in a cutting, at the entrance to which is a- deep creek. The sides of the railway bridge stand up pathetically out of the water, but that is the barrier, and there steamers and canoes draw up. (hi either side of the train yesterday there was water, and the passengers tiled through the carriages to the one furthest ahead, and then down a, plank into the boats, while parcels and mails, etc., were handed down the same gangway. Nobody was in a hurry, and everybody seemed rather to be enjoying the novelty of the position. Railway I toilers were transformed into nautical men. With trousers rolled up to the knee, they had assumed quite » jaunty '* handy-man ' air, and l , as they handed passengers and parcels to the boats, one almost expected to hear them shouting: " Port your helm," or "Hard a starboard," or some other expression peculiar to those who go down to the tea in ships. Th- scene at the point of embarkation was really that of some big water picnic. Bicycles and dress baskets going on board lent an excursionlike appearance to it, and everybody, pussengers or crew or railway men, seemed in high spirits and perfectly happy, ready to laugh at anything. First a package of HwiAI.DS, thrown from the van. was missed by the man on the gangway and fell into th" water. Like a flash a "handy man'' plunged in up to the knees and rescued the parcel, and the observers laised a cheer; then a dog had to be removed from the dog box to the boat, and the canine proved bad tempered. The hr.-l porter gave the animal up as a bad job, but another seized its tail, and after a struggle succeeded in hauling the protesting dog to the boat, to the accompaniment of mars of laughter from the onlookers. The juvenile element shed its boots ami stockings, and chased minnows up the cutting till the boats were ready to start. A Maori canoe arrived, a mere shell of wood, but the occupant took a couple of big cream cans on board, and triumphantly sailed away out on the flood. Then came a "flattie" to pick up two dress baskets, a hat box, and two ladies in white dresses. 'then the passenger launch, towing a great whaleboal loaded with goods, mails, etc., pulled out through tie- willows, and stalled on its up-river voyage, while those who remained behind gathered on the high banks of the cutting to wave farewell.

"Call tins a Hood," said an old identity, who was sunning himself on the hank ; "why you should have been at Mfreer in the days when the military were there ; a busy time that 1 ran tell yon, and the river cam* 1 down. Now, that was a Hood if you like. It didn't go down for a solid month, and we lived on the boats." THE REPAIRING CANON. No far all the damaged portions of the lines thai could be not at have been repaired sufficiently to carry the ordinary traffic. Some finishing work still remains to be effected, but the great break now is between Umil is- anil Pokeno, and the repairing gangs cannot net on to thai at present without swimming. The district engineer has 17 permanent surfacemen and 40 extra men avail,title for this section, and as the water recedes repair work will be at once proceeded with. So far there is little to do there, except to watch for the falling of the flood waters. Should the water subside suddenly this staff can be largely augmented, at a few hours' notice from the gangs employed on the Penrose duplication works', but even with a thousand men nothing mora could be done at present. The whole section is being carefully watched, but observations so far do not reveal much. The river itself is falling, but very slowly, ami while it remains in that swollen condition there is little chance of the back water yetting away. One point on which fear is expressed is that after the river has dropped considerably, but while the railway is still unworkable, there may be considerable difficulty attendant on navigation of the river. At all events, the navigation would be more difficult than at present, and the E resent inconveniences of landing ami embarking passengers may be augmented.

KINGSLAND CRICKET GROUND UNDER WATER. The Kingsland cricket ground, which was covered with Water on the 15th hist, and free on the following day, except on the lower portion near the road, is again flooded. The water has gradually made its reappearance, and since Wednesday last lias risen Sin. The ground is now one sheet of water. At the Cabbage. Tree Swamp, which is rather over half-a-mile from the Kingsland station, along the Kingsland Road; the flood water has fallen sft. RAILWAY COMMUNICATION. The water on the flooded area between Pokeno and Huntly continues to recede but slowly, and it does not appear likely that the Railway Department will, be able to establish through communication by rail between the two stations for at least a week to come, as considerable portions of the line are still a considerable depth under water. and serious slips and washouts have occurred in numbers of places. As the water recedes, however, the line is being repaired, and should it fall sufficiently the Department expect by Monday to be able to get through to Mercer from the Auckland end and to Rangiriri from the Htmtly end, leaving a total break of 13 miles. The existing train services, with the connecting steamer service from Pokeno to Huntly, will be continued in the meantime, but should the Department be able to effect the necessary repairs, this will be altered on Monday' or Tuesday. Earlier trains will be run. and will connect with steamers at Mercer, which will proceed up the river to a point about half a mile this side of Huntly. where a train will be stationed to take passengers on to Etankton. and thromrli to Rotorua. The usual changes will he made for the Thames. Cambridge, and Taumarunui. Passengers will thus be able to accomplish the journey up to Rotorua and Taumarunui in one. instead of two, days, as at present. THE MAIL SERVICE. The chief post master requests us to notify the public that all mails for places between Thames, Morrinsville. and Rotorua are now being despatched by steamers leaving for the Thames daily. They connect with the express train leaving the Thames the following morning at ten minutes past nine a.m., and aie delivered the same day. This arrangement will only last until the restoration of regular railway communication by the Waikato. In the meantime the forwaiding of such mails via the Thames is in the interests of the public, as. ii forwarded via the Waikato. they would have to be despatched by the ten minutes to eight train in the morning, and would not reach their destination any sooner than by the Thames steamer later on in the day.