THE PLIGHT OF PUHOI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18678, 7 April 1924, Page 11

THE PLIGHT OF PUHOI.

DAMAGE IN TOWNSHIP. •• THREE- GALLANT RESCUES. «; •*- - - . • -v 'j. • ; ■' v. NEW WHARF SHED WRECKED \ •' s " V- '.j; ." ■/ ■ '• ' ' ■■/» , y ' : i'." •. r LOSS OF VALUABLE GOODS .ity* ?■*/{, V,'VVvCi. -.\y •• .-V HAVOC :IN j PUBLIC l- LIBRARY ■ ' 'SV;V\- 1 ... Several thrilling rescues from the rising watere,- many 5 narrow escapes, and. widespread damage marked I the * floods »in the Waiwera and Puhoi | districts last week.: : Puhoi, r tie;centre i the Bohemian settlement ' that was ' founded some 60 years ago under Captain Krippner,, fared much worse' than any other township along.the East Coast. It stands on- the : Puhoi River, at the junction of a tributary that Etrik.es away toward Upper Waiwera, " all the principal business places being in the angle-: between the two streams. The watershed of . the Piahoi was well - within the, scope of the maximum' deluge, which,, is - estimated by an old settler to have been confined to an area of about 8000 teres, 1 bounded by the high country lying between the northern slopes of the Wade and Waiwera rivers, and extending a few miles north of Puhoi, and back toward the Kaipara. * . - " 4 '

Early in the progress of the ntorm the Puhoi River began to swell, . arid it soon became evident that - the town - was in dangisr. s Eventually .the water rose above the l>ank of .the river, and covered the main road. Still it continued to rise, and eventually i there was about 7ft. of . water in the premises of Messrs. Scholium And Titiord, which consist of their main store, an auxiliary store, and saddlery shop, an d - the post and telephone office of the district. , The owners and their staff, nowever, still' stood by the shops, endeavouring to put ?as much of the stock as possible ont of the , reach of the waters. */; ? Flood Waters Braved. ;. Mr. John Scholium, junior, who is postmaster, in, his- 1 anxiety to inform the outside - world of the catastrophe; which had overcome the township, 'stayed on at the telephone instrument until he was in serious jeopardy. Then it was that Mr. Victor Sciischka, ' a member of • a rival firni, performed a- c series» of ■ courageous acta. The water 'was at this time 7ft. deep around the post office, and at some points doeper. i<- Victor Schischka swam ont. and brought young Scholium to a -pldC«>_'of." safety.'{-.;v.'/. ; James Titford and his son James wire also busily engaged in - salvage work iA the saddlery shop, and held out longer than was prudent—until they were up. to their necks hi water. .James Titford, jun., fainted : under the f a*citement. Having accomplished his ,'< •st : rescue,: Victor Schischka 1 swam across ;to the shop . and brought the i unconscious man safety to terra firm*. r '-'v 1 Nor was this tiUe end" his heroic behaviour. There was still Mr. Titford, uenr., left, in the saddlery shop, and unable to swim. Again Victor Schischka breasted the turbulent - water, by this time ugly . pea-soupy , torrent, and; earned him to more V or'loss ' dry land. Small wonder that Schischka, with th.-ee rescues within a few minutes to' his credit, is now a"hero in the ' eyes of the Puhoi people. • - Wharf Shed sWept Away. : ,

Buildings that were .; the 'i pride •of . Pohoi were .destroyed: ;■ or, damaged '"' by r, the • flood. On the ; • bank of ■; the river, * opposite the • SSchollam-Tit--4 ford stonsji, had 'joit been>erected a new ; wharf &he<l,, 40ft. by 20ft., which was jto ; have : been opened ■ by 'a '■ festive ; gathering on Saturday night. ' On Thursday the shed contained a large stock of goods • which had just . been landed from the Anckljind steamer. • Of this more than ' £500 worth belonged to Messrs. Scholium . and Titford, and there were also consign-

men is of; goods for various: settlers, including 1 softie 30 tons of manures. The ! . ■whole shed was 7 incontinently swept j -away, and- its "flooring now.. rests as one : melancholy exhibit "on the• river-bed, just • below the township. • / The' ScholJum-Titford firm ; ; have also ■ suffered very heavily in the stock f of perishable goods in - their stores, the whole : of which were ; either destroyed or de-< teriorated ' by the 7ft. of water which invaded the premises. Mi'. Scholium, senr., ; <■'; stayed^-'oil'; ■; in - his % office to a very late period ; of ; ; the "inundation, ' and escaped from the , store . with difficulty. , -The Scene In the library. > 1 Another serious loss' to the district has " ' occurred 'iii the - Public; Library,; opened ®x months, ago in a concrete building _on the riverside, formerly , occupied as .he • office^'; the Puhci Road Board. /Here, there was also the iitame '7ft. of water, and : f - practically the whole of the stock of books, : worth s about £200, was . washed > ■ out. AH 1 that remained when, the flood ; abated. was one high shelf j; containing about 50 volumes. i When flood subsided ? there was salt • on ithe .-flooring to; a depth 'Z of about 6ft., which had to be shoTelled out. The old Road Board safe was still on the premises^{and was used as the repositary of title-deeds and other valuable documents :belonging*to settlers. Up to s Saturday afternoon ; the safe had not been - opened; but the quantity of water and 'silt that - was oozing througn tinder it# door; augured badly as to . the condition of the contents. , On a landing close to the wharf shed there stood before the storm a large collection of kauri. SB# and •' by Messrs. Renngerand and containing about 50,000 ft. of timber lhe whole of these were washed out to sea. Adjoining these were stacked about 40 000 ft of sawn timber, of which belonged to the Rodney County Council and /tins - suffered a like fate. , > Demolition of; Drawbridge ' Probably the most far-reaching disaster to the district, however, is th© destruc tion • of the drawbridge awoss ? the ,> Puhoi River, a -short f distance below the town ship on the, Great r North <Road , ltoe Dominion Bridge ; Company,.: of A ° c^* n< ;| was engaged 1 upon a contract, at a cost of £1300 for' the reconstruction of- the bridge, which had stood on; the j 6 ?*"?- for abimt 45 years. They had actually spent about £500 on the work , while aU the , material for the completion of the structure was on .the: ground .T S work' has ibeen ruined ; and : the .whole. 01, the waiting material: swept ' a >' ' The men employed upon the work testify-that .4 the water of the - river rose. 17ft. 'in one space of 40: minuter. This thev were able to ; judge accucately. oy their knowledge of the heights of s their work. Hundreds of -T heavy J logs swent. down the: stream, pounding v heavily against the piles. Four bridges were seen to pass through practically, intact—in one case with /its rails still upright—and some of these are stranded on the r ' ye . r ' b lower down. Until the water had risen jibove the deck level the structure stood the - strain -? splendidly, :; but ; when ' once it came above the decking; the bulk of^^^. bri deft went away . in ' one ; body.. : _ uu v the shore ; sections and the; Cluster, of central: piles for the ; swing -span; remain, the : latter .much twisted out of position.^ . Prior." to - this occurrence, however, tne workmen had rsecwed, the swing-span. luta the nile-driver with wire ? ropes to . tr«>3 oh" the bank • of the river. > i Slewing , round, out of the main current, they were saved, but . the wav in which .the anchoring wees . -A-y--*- : K'rkfr-V;*

' """ j dicnlar" 1 ;. tested out of the perpenth* evidence of in - fIJS« +? j j ® Puhoi when ML £***: . lodnded in the loss of fill^w?® Bridge Company was about S;£ orth * °u tools > 1 h*®* the large • quantities ' of 1 other * material..«s* v°v I P,,K V ; e bridges in the upper • part of the fuixoi valley-were also destroyed, as was. another which the .Dominion Bridge Com- ■ pany was tncting on the main road, ?? ee mdes flPom Warkworth. . A ., e district tennis awn in the middle of _ the Puhoi township, is a -dismal area - of salt and ruined shrubbery. The same may be said of the * cricket ground., In the height ; of the . deaning'-np; ]of r Saturday' afternoon, ichen a county road-scoop. was sweeping > into the river the . tons >of sloppy silt that,;had ;been left by the waters on the main road, arrived a cricket team from : Matakana; by : appointment, to Play a match against • the; Puhoi eleven. Ane ' game£' it-, is hardly - necessary kto say, ° a d to be •indefinitely postponed.. V:. , - Altogether, it is. estimated locally that the total damage in the Puhoi district will amount to between £25,000 and £30,000, while the whole ; community must suffer a grave set-back i from -the interruption of industry, which must .'■ necessarily occur until , the badly-blocked roads "and the bridges are restored to usefulness. ' The school children of the Puhoi Convent were ' bmiy at their studies as the water rose, and found themselves imprisoned in • the" school premises, unable to return home at, the close of ; the day. Provision was made for their accommodation in the convent for the night, to the number. of about 70. Next morning, they returned to then' various homes on' the outskirts of the . town by taking - circuitous routes along the hilltops. One of many instances of personal hardship is that of a young lady from Australia, who had just landed in Puhoi, on a visit to , 601116 Wends. Practically me whole of her luggage was : contained- in one trunk of - quite unusual ' dimensions: 1 his . was still in the wharf shed at the time of its destruction and went with the rest of the contents/ leaving the unhappy girl with lititle .in the way ;of clothing beyond that m which she stands. tei**-* ._A pleasant feature ' amid the havoc >vas the kindly spirit shown by the outlying farmers toward the sufferers in the township. A largo company of settlers—" the whole district, as it was expressed most of whom had their own troubles on their holdings, came into . Puhoi on Saturday , to rally round the unlucky tradespeople, and were busily engaged id a working bee for ; the reclamation of damaged goods, and P similar kindly, offices JwOTml' t J 80105 " 1 Catholic clergyman of the district, was directing, " el P in 3» and encouraging the workers.

DEVASTATED DISTRICT,

WAIIN I, WAI WE A, PUtfOI. ; NUMEROUS LANDSLIPS. HARDSHIPS OF FARMERS. V * v NO CREAM CARTS : RUNNING..: ■ Heavy as 'Thursday's rain was in various parts of the provincial' district, -it struck • with extraordinary severity over the belt of country near the boundary ■of Waitemata and Rodney counties, stretch, ing from the neighbourhood of Silverdale to just beyond Puhoi, . and back to : the line of "the North Auckland trunk railway. AH the ' evidence ' seems to' show that the delnge was even greater within this area than elsewhere. Viewing the stricken district on Saturday from • any ?j of the higher. peaks, a scene of desolation met the eye .in every direction. All through the Wainui, "Waiwera, and Puhoi valleys, and far back in the ; direction ,of , Kaukapakapa and Tahekeroa, there was ' not a hillside to be seen that was not deeply scored by landslips,*; which .in many ■;instances .extended to nearly ; sin ; acre each. The ? loss of pasture to the settlers must extend to many hundr eds of acres, if not'well into four figures. v Only a rough estimate could : be hazarded' from a hasty " survey, but ; this' loss is 3 certainly enormous. . The whole district is populated by dairy farmers, , supplying j the . Kaipara, and Puhoi factories, arid no'/ such widespread calamity has happened to" the settlers ■; since the northern ,■ regions were taken ' up'.fof pastoral r purposes. p Rather curiously, the heavy • • destruction of • this .nature' - siiems to extend only a few miles north of Puhoi. i '

. Wilhin the same area every bridge and culveirt of any consequence ; has ; ' been swept •' away or washed out, and : the - roads are blocked! :by ;■ slips in - every < valley. A very serious dilemma that'consequently confronts the settlers is that of getting their cream ;to : the .factory. With the roads' rendered useless, tit is impossible for the ■ cream carts, ; from • which . they have been' accustomed to receive visits two or three times each week, to make their usual rounds. ! ; Consequently the ' cream 'is accumulating, and '.in danger of sadly deteriorating.; Up 'to Saturday no alter* : native : means of collecting ; it, or ' getting | it carried out,' ; had been devised. i The Work of Restoration. ; So^ vast is the damage to roads , and bridges, that it /is difficult to »see. how ( the local bodies are to face its repair without liberal grants in assistance from the Government.-; Roads have to be cleared of debris, . bridges rebuilt, and other expenditure /undertaken that cannot , possibly be borne out of the ordinary revenue from irates."- The obstruction of the district branch , roads in- the valleys is -the greatest blow to the individual settlers, and its extent is tremendous. - Even with a horde of roadmen and bridge-builders it ,would: take many months i • to restore these/roads. .'/;. - v ,v But apart : from that, and more ; important .to the general traveller, is the fact : that material 'works, on the Great North Road,: the : main artery of wheeled traffic to the Far North, , have been . swept away. Of these, the most important is the swing bridge over ;' the Puhoi River, close? to' Pahoi ; township. .Until' that' is reconstructed, or ' some temporary substitute provided, there • can .'be no vehicular traffic beyond the Waiwera Hot Springs. ; A lesser /obstacle on the. main road is ihe ; gap in / the bridge across , the Otamarua, at Hatfield's 1 Bay, which marks ithe northern end of Orewa Beach. : Here the, southern approach 'to the bridge has been washed, out, causing an unsightly and inconvenient gap. Until the bridge approach is repaired there ; canbe; no traffic past /Hatfield's Bay, above halftide. -: , , • "One Big Paddock." , •The losses of settlers, all through the Wainui and Upper Waiwera districts are very heavy. Besides the diminution of pasture areas, the damage to fences is enormous. Very few ; fences on the riverside ,hill slopes are left 4 intact, what with the 1 action of landslips and the burial: of the wires on river boundaries in heaps of silt. • As one settler put v it, :/ the / lower ; levels of the Wainui have become '' one big paddock," which it will cost its owners thousands of pounds, collectively, to subdivide afresh. : And the same conditions obtained in the districts extending above the: Waiw'era-Wainui junction, and out toward! the Kaipara. Moreover, it is j problematical whether the full loss of pasf turage ha ! j yet . been reached. /; Behind most of the big landslips the ground is seriously loosened,. in some cases cracked for 20 or 30 feet, and it is very probable that / the ; continued \ rainfall of Saturday, and yesterday ; has brought down, or will bring down, huge further masses "of soil, all through the district. ■ ' One settler on the upper .waters of the Waiwera, Mr. J., Bayer, estimates /: his losses "in fencing, grass, and r timber, as being in the neighbourhood of £1000 While this iaay be an extreme case, there is jno doubt - that the -. individual • losses of others 'in the district run well / into three figures. r Months must elapse -* before the farms and roads are again brought into workable order. ■■■•• - It 'is satisfactory to find - that ■ the losses in stock are very small—almost negligible. Probably i this is due to ; the fact that most of the stock are now cattle, which were, kept close , to the homesteads, and were readily brought to'places of safety.