CARS MAROONED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22620, 7 January 1937, Page 11

CARS MAROONED

HOLIDAY MOTORISTS SLIPS BLOCK ROAD DAIRY FAIiMF.RS' LOSS CHK.Ur PARTAKE CEASES r ß v TEI.'EGTt APH —OWN COIt I< KSPON DENT J GISBORNE, Wednesday The first tourists who wore able to make their way out from Wailiou Bay in the Bay of Plenty by devious means report th«t the condition of the main highway round the coast from Gisborne to Opotiki is considerably worse than has hitherto been indicated. Since Tuesdav of last week more than 100 p-ople from all parts of the North ]slaml, many of them anxious to return to their businesses, have been marooned between To Kaha and f.,p P Runaway, and the prospects of their' being able to bring their motor-cars out before next week are anything but bright. Waihou Bay alone nearly 50 visitors are stranded, about half that i number being at the accommodation j house and the remainder camped under i canvas or in temporary shelters. At | various points between Waihou Bay j an d Te Kaha other earners are cut j off and some cannot even reach the ! road. ' An Arduous Journey j The' approach to Whanarua, a popu- ; ]ar site with campers, was badly j washed out but most tourists had j heeded the warning given and only j four tents now remain. Other campers nre scattered at various points along , the road and all are in an unenviable j position, not knowing when it will be ; possible for them to move. A party ot four men who managed j to reach Opotiki shortly before mid-.! night on Monday had an arduous day, j two of them taking 14 hours to cover j a distance which normally is only a i three-hour run. The journey to Te j Kaha was made in stages by foot, on i a motortruck, on horseback and finally j bv taxi. It is stated by those who made j this journey that the road appears to J be damaged to a greater or lesser ex- j tent over the whole distance from Cape j I{unavvav to Te Kaha. I Throwing Away Cream As a result of the blockage of the j main highway between Cape liunawav j r.nd Te Kaha, where there is a dairy j factory, the settlers, mostly natives, are throwing away approximately two tons of cream every day A calculation shows that as a result of similar disruptions in the cream cartage service during the past 12 months there has been an aggregate loss of more than | dL'2OOO with every prospect of this j figure being considerably increased as j the result of the present hold up. I The chief difficulty hut by no means j the only one, is the Raukokore River, ; which is to be bridged shortly. In ! normal'times the river can be crossed by cream trucks without difficulty. If j there is a slight "fresh" the trucks' are pulled through by bullock team j And if this is not practicable a con- J nection between trucks on either side j of the river is made with a bullock | dray. When there is a flood, as was ; the case last week, the river cannot | be crossed by any means, even on ' horse-back. The river, however, falls : fairly rapidly and cream could have j been taken across at the beginning of this week had the rest of the road been | in order. The Peak of the Season The trouble conies at the peak of the ; dairy season, and farmers, having no j means of storing their cream, which, j in any case, would seriously dcterior- : ate in quality, have no alternative j other than to give as much as possible j to the pigs and throw the rest down j the drain.. Native farmers in the district where large land development schemes are b"ing carried out have made remarkable progress. Their farms arc in excellent condition and the herds are of | high quality, with the result that the output of the small Maori-owned factory at Te Kaha has increased from 10 ton? to 200 tons. Although most of j the farmers face their transport diffi- j culties philosophically it is discotirag- j ing to them to find that tlieir labour j is periodically wasted, and that they j have to bear a heavy financial loss ! through 'the inadequacy of the road. | i HEAVY RAIN AT OPOTIKI FURTHER ROAD TROUBLES I • [by TELEGRAPH- —OWN con respondent] I r- OPOTIKI, Wednesday Further heavy rain fell in Opotiki! yesterday and last night, accompanied j b.v a gale. The road between Opotiki j and Gisborne is now completely blocked | by a serious slip, which occurred at Wai- j rata, about -'SO miles from Opotiki. Further slips in the Waimana Gorge and floodings on the Taneatua-Whakatane Itoad isolated Opotiki. Many tourists ■R'ho spent the night in Opotiki will be unable to leave the town for some hours. The Gisborne road will be blocked for eight hours. According to advice received l>v the Automobile Association (Auckland) both of the highways out of Opotiki ■"ere blocked by slips yesterday morning. but these were cleared during the afternoon and traffic was able to get through last night. The southern outlet from Opotiki to Gisborne is that v ia the Waioeka Valley and the coastal route via Cape Runaway, which is always -in a treacherous condition during wet weather.