MAIN ROADS BLOCKED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21555, 28 July 1933, Page 8

MAIN ROADS BLOCKED

OUTLETS FROM GISBORNE SLIPS NORTH AND j SOUTH MAIL TRANSPORT DIFFICULTY [BY TELEORAril —OWN CORRESPONDENT] GISBORNE. Thursday Both tbe southern and northern main outlets from Gisborne are blocked. The cutting at Mohaka, which has interrupted traffic for several days past, is still sliding down on to tbe road, and a slip came down in the Waioeka Valley last night, completely blocking that road. However, the Motu route is still open. Advice regarding the southern outlet is still indefinite. Hopes had been raised that the slip would have been cleared boforo this, but liquid mud continued to ooze down the hillside and on to the road. Service-car passengers have been transferred throughout the week across the slip, and there is no degree of certainty as to how long this practice will have to be depended upon. Today's- advice was that, the slip would be cleared sufficiently for through traffic to bo restored to-morrow, but advice from Wairoa suggests that this will not bo possible before the weekend. Owing to the slip on the Waioeka Road the late service-car from Opotiki to Gisborne had to be diverted to the Motu route. The slip was still blocking the road to-day. The first mail from Tiniroto since last week reached the Gisborne post office last night, the mailman having to make a journey of nearly 100 miles via T« j Reinga and Wairoa, as compared with the normal distance between Tiniroto and Gisborne of less than 40 miles. Last week-end the road between Tiniroto and Te Reinga was blocked by slips in four places, and tbe journey yesterday presented many difficulties. Owing to a complete blockage of the road at a blufl: the mail contractor has engaged a packhorse team for the transport of mail and stores over the slip and a damaged portion of the road beyond, and this arrangement will be adhered to until better conditions obtain.