APPEAL FOR ASSISTANCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2251, 22 April 1897, Page 19

APPEAL FOR ASSISTANCE.

ISapies, April 19. There is little to add to the matter already telegraphed. Another settler (a dairy farmer named Riley) and two assistants are reported to be missing. They cannot be found. News from the north is that the Taupo road is impassable. The coach left Taupo on Thursday, but is stuck up at Tarawera, and not able to come forward or go back. The railway line is impracticable as far as Waipnkuran, whence there is coach communication with Napier. Boats are being employed at two great washouts in the road at Waitangi. Telegraph communication is partially restored. There was a. great relief when it was learned that the Anglian bad returned to Wellington..

( There must have been very dirty weatho* outside, as the Mamari, which left Auckland on | Thursday, is only just coming across the bay. I Relief expeditions are supplying fiooded-out - , residents with clothing and food. The mayor is calling a public meeting to raise funds for [ more permanent aid. Mr B. p. D. M'Lean, | M.H.R., has headed the list with £100. The I necessities of the case, however, are felt to bo j beyond the resources of Hawke's Bay, and tho following telegram is being sent to the mayors of the principal boroughs :•— " Your immediate ( assistance is most earnestly solicited to , enable U9 in some measure to copo ! with the effects of the mos"; disastrous flood I which has ever visited Hawke's Bay. Hundreds l of families have been rendered homeless by the destruction of their homes, some of whioh are bodily swept away, and the loss of property in cattle and all kinds of stock, besides miles of \ fencing and the ruin of their crops, has lefb : them practically destitute and the country ■ desolate. The loss of life, too, I regret to say, ' has been large. Twelve persons hare, it is now [ known, been drowned, and, as most of them [ have left widows and! children entirely without i support, funds are urgently required to meet their most pressing necessities. Tea of these men nobly gave their lives in endeavouring to J rescue their fellow-settlers by means of boats, which have, there is now no doubt, been swept ' out to sea by the current. The loss altogether cannot be estimated at less than £80,000 to £100,000. Under these most distressing circumstaaces 1 feel compelled to appeal to the well-known generosity of my fellow-colonists, and to ask chem to give us their kindly cooperation in whatever steps may ba taken to alleviate the misery and devastation which has fallen upon us. Besides many settlers who will need aid to save them from starvation or bankruptcy, there are. 30 widows and children left by men who were drowned in rescue work, all practically left unprovided for. Upon a Prf.ss Association telegram detailing the disaster reaching Wellington the ActingPremier promptly forwarded to the mayor the following sympathetic message :—"TheGovernment desire to convoy through you to the set- ! tiers of Hawke'* Bay their deep regreb at tha ! great calamity that has overtaken the disj trice by the loss of life and great damage to property camed by the floods. They alao wish that you should convey their sincere sympathy to the widows and orphans of the brave volunteers who have lost their live» in endeavouring to save those of others. On behalf of the Government, I with to state that every assistance will be givan by the offiocra of all the Government departments throughout the district in assisting settlers ia their distress in every possible way, and . any assistance that ' is required for the immediate relief of destitute ' persons will ba provided. The Hon. Mr Hall1 Jones, Minister for Public Works, is leaving Wellington to-day for Hawke's Bty, and will make arrangements to alleviate as far as possible the effects of the great calamity t.h&t has befallen the district."— John M'Kgnzik, ActingPremier. The Mayor replied as follows: — "Permit 'me, on behalf of tha many suffering citizens of Napier and settlers of Hawke's Bi/, to ratum you my most heartfelt thanks for tha kindly Bympathy oxpressed in jour telegram jusfc received, and to asjuro you thM. nothing shall be wanting -ou my part to give «svery publicity to the geuerout offer of the Government to assist us and relieve our pressing necessity in S this dire calamity th>\t has overtaken us. lam | much gratified to hear that the Hon. the ' Minister for Public Works is now on his way bo j see what can be dona for us."