THE GREAT FLOOD OF 1868.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19832, 30 December 1927, Page 12

THE GREAT FLOOD OF 1868.

Sir,—As near as I can remember— and my memory is still good—the following are gome of the actual facts connected with the paragraph in Thursday's Herald relating the dreadful experience of Mrs. 1 Donald Williamson, during the amaaing flood of February, 11368. Mrs. William, son and a daughter, about five or six years old, lived in a small house within '■■■•* a few yards of the Ashburton river-bed, about three miles from Messrs. Turton Brothers'- accommodation house. Mr. . Williamson was absent, and his wife and child were isolated by the storm- p;!water. At the Ashburton sheep and cattle station I was awakened by the dull , roaring of the rushing waters. I quickly got my hack out of the stable, and rode up alongside the river. At Williamson's I saw a largo pig on a narrow ledge, and moving with or against the rapid current, but no other signs of life or habitation could be se.rn. I concluded that Mrs. Williamson and her daughter were drowned,., but Mr. Robert Millar, a farmer, higher up the river, had ' come 'down, cutting through the fences, in the pitch dark night with a horse and dray and rescued them. A daring deed under the circumstances. Seeing I could do nothing, I went on round the boundary fence. The contour of the plains, toward the Ashburton River, is formed in very low undulating ridges, trending from west to east, and the flood water between each would be from one to two feet deep. The sheep were scattered everywhere on those ridges, and an immense body of water formed a lake on each side of the Wakanui Creek, below the Great South Road. When I * arrived at Turton's I found the river was surging rapidly algng from bank to bank, and a stack of hay was passing on which . . were several fowls, including a rooster.. ~ which was crowing loudly on his up ard down journey to the sea. There was a sevtere drought before the flood occurred and millions of black, hairy caterpillars . almost completely destroyed the old tussocks—native grass. Many sheep died from starvation. I saw a column of the caterpillars several hundreds of yards in length, and about three feet in width, all crawling toward the east. Many cattle and sheep, also some horses, perished on the mountainous country in the yerr 1867, Snow on the plains was nearly two feet deep on the west side of the Great South Road. Dense fogs and wonderful mir. ages were seen in those days. William R. Keay, Kumeu, December 29, 1927.