THE FLOODS AT BOURKE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XV, Issue 4656, 1 May 1890, Page 4

THE FLOODS AT BOURKE.

The following la taken from the report of the Argus' special reporter, sad dated Boorke, 18 th April : -Far away beyond tho twinkling HghU of the booses, a Jong serpentine Hoe of fires b seen. Looking attentively yon may MS DIRK nCTIEtS MOTISC AMONGST TUEST, hundreds of them. Evidently tbey are the workmen, the volunteers, and the paid navvies. Another detachment is moviog down sa I approach my hotel, long filled fall with men of all claws. The kindly hostess is without, encouraging them to ataxt, and promising to come down and nuke tea st midnight. They go away with n cheer as hearty as possible, and it might readily be imagined that they were golog to a picnic, bat, following thim down, it b qvtekly seen that the picnic u not of tho ordinary sort. They biiong to the No. 3 section. There are more than 20 aec'.iona of the dam. and from the moment they take their places a portion of that earthwork, a link in the chain on which alone Is the township's salvation, depends absolutely oo them. The dam is built now ■boot 20ft broad on the base, and from 4ft to 6ft wide on the top. It is sheathed on the inner aide v with galvanised iroo, or bound with boshes. Yon stand on tbe top, and the water is there close to yonr feet, not 4in from tbe snmmir, and rising, always rising. Yon look jast across it in the darkneai, and it is like a look acrcsi the breast of a great lake. Miles away tbe atara are reflected, miles »way it really extend*. In piacss it Is Oft deep on the finer side of the embankment—Ott deep and mites In breadth, and banked op right over against the town. The average is not perhaps more than 4ft, bat io places it Is really Oft, and down in tbe trench below and np on tbe bank above the volunteers and the paid men work. All alone the fonr miles yon may see them passing from gang to gang.

xvsst xas is xue rovrs xtnww out M he is fit or can find time, and what would happen if one effective leak sprang below, or if one little rivulet rushed across the top and was not checked in time? Who cannot realise what would happen when a wall of water Oft high and many mile* broad should suddenly burst Its bonds and march on. I fear there woald be some few human corpses going down the river, though I pray God that this •toot-hearted battle may not have that end. I wontd jost as soon face a ridge of DiyoueEs advancing op a slope ss work away on that clay bank with that

COLD, SAKE, MtRCILESS TOE ever advancing behind, bat I do not thlok tho men employed have any thought of immediate danger. They have resolved to save their town. They have hundreds of fair homes here, and property in stores and other goods and chattels worth at least a million sterling. They barn sent their wives and children •way, and like th» good old bnrehers of old have manned their city walls and determined to fight ont tho battle to lao cod. If by laying sod npon sad with inetasant care they can fight tho inch by Inch rising of tho water, if they can hold It back till the height is reached and tho ebb begins, the town is sived. If once the waters break their barrier, down comes inch a flicd as Central Australia has certainly never seen before, and away goes the fairest and most prosperous of all her inland townships. Hundreds of pany hots snd cottages would be swept away at once, and it is feared that even tho large brick buildings—tho banks, which have cost thouaonda to build, the hotels not on worthy of Collios-strcec, tha stores, containing in one instance L 30,000 worth of stock—xontd bo so sapped to the fonodatioo as ultimately to crack, cave in, and tumble down.

THE PEOPLE HAVE RESOLVED IO SAVE ALL and their battle, as it goes on now from day to day and bonr to boor, will claim the almost sympathetic attention of all Australian readers.

Last night was one of ahum?. This morning: na tots'little better, and this evening news may be to band as ooy adnata that tbs dams have given say, and tbat the water is flooding the town. It la being beld back only by phenomenal effort. Lite bat night a epecial call was mads for volunteers. Luckily it was heartily responded to, and as the navvy knocked off bis pick and shovel were taken up by abopkeeper or clerk. In the early boars of dawn a scire was created by news of a serious leakage in the bank at the east tndcf the to wo. Great difficulty bas been experienced in protecting ibis ptac*. I', is at a point about a mile from the centre of tb» town, and just at the beck of the hospital, bordering the ptincipnl basinets pare. Too embank* ment for a mile and a half is simply composed of earth of a sandy nature. The water, baring now thoroogbly saturated It, is gradually soaking through. The moment anything like a Irak occurs there is danger of a portion of the bank being swept away, and If oacu a serious breach occurs nothing could stop the inflow of water. All available labor was iostantiy called to tbs weak spot previously referred to, and the tbreatsned danger was soon averted. Confidence bad scarcely been restored before

JBI TOWS WAS ALARMED BY THE KiSGiife or xaE riRE asd church belli. This was at half-past 1] o'clock la lbs morning', when it was found that tbe same bank was again In danger. People harried from their bonses and shops with spades over their shoulders to find that tbe aaakage through the bank in one plaea was moat serious'. Tbe bank was scon literally swarming with men with tpides, who piled earth upon earth nnlil all was safe again. Tbe river bad risea, and tbo water fur over a mile long was flowing level with the top of the bank. Anything like a brwzs would have driven tbo water over the bank, and than it would have been labor in vain. Other dangerous spots were also found, and tbe

cmtasa. akb rmtmstt the waier ISCH BY ISCIt

aaltrtos. The effort is a gigantic one, •ad threatening ai •Sain have been »11 along, tbey bare never been io serious as now. Tbe railway line was cus io several places ibis morning, not only with the vfew of preserving the line generally aad preventing accident, bat io order to assist tbe more apeedy outflow of tho water which threatened tbe town.