THE DROWNING OF TWO DREDGE HANDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2676, 28 June 1905, Page 54

THE DROWNING OF TWO DREDGE HANDS.

DAMAGE ON THE WEST COAST.

GREYMOUTH, J«™> 26.

The losses in town by the flood are not so great as it was at first Supposed; £500 will repair the damage to the streets. One good effect has been to thoroughly scour out ilie bar, which has now about 25ft of water. To-diay business was very brisk.

In the country the damage is much greater than was at first; estimated, all the settlers and the larger mimng claims suffering very severely. The railways are again running, but it will take a good deal of expenditure before the permanent way and bridges are in as stood a. condition as before the flood. The approaches to Blackball-Ngahere railway bridge, the temporary nature and delay in construction of which have caused so much advense comment, were completely washed away, and the labour and expenditure of some months completely gone.

GREYMOUTH, June 26.

News of damage caused by flood still continues to come to hand. The railway lines to Otha, Reefton, and Hokitika are being repaired. The damage is confined to washouts. Nearly all the settlers in the Grey Valley suffered loss of stock. The approach to Blackball bridge, at which 25 men were working for the past nine months, was swept away.

Gangs of men are on the streets to-day clearing the gravel and debris.

The report that two men were drowned from the Fern Flat dredge has .-been confirmed.

Troubles are said never to come singlehanded, and this is true in the case of Merrett, a settler on Coal Creek Flat. Big fires were lighted in the house, and bedding and clothes put to dry. The man in charge left to attend to some cattle in the yard, and when returning noticed the house on fire. All efforts to extinguish the firg were ÜB-

availing, and the nine-roomed house, with its contents, was destroyed. There was no insurance on the contents, and, as tho re was only £200 on the house, Merrett is a hea^y loser.

A sad death occurred at Poerua on Sunday, when the daughter of Mr Wheeler, a settler, died. The girl, who was 18 years of age. got wet walking from the station to her home, a distance of two miles, on Friday. She caught a severe cold, which brought on inflammation. Her parents did all possible, but, owing to the telephone service being cut off, a doctor could not be summoned. The father walked to Moana, a distance of 14- miles, and got the railway officer to ring up Greymouth for a doctor. The train had left before word was received, and a doctor could not get to the patient. On Sunday the girl died. There is a good* deal of indignation at the action of the Government in cutting off the wire, and not extending the service for the whole line. If the telephone had been available most likely life would have been saved. One settler at Poerua made application for the telephone, and was willing to pay £10 a year, but the request was refused. There is likely to be further agitation for a telephone service as far as Otira.

WESTPORT, June 26.

What is regarded as the record flood occurred in the Buller River on Saturday, beginning early in the morning and lasting throughout the day. Although some of the low-lying part? of the town were under water, and washouts occurred on tha railway, the damage done appears to be slight. In some of the out districts Josses of cattle occurred, and o.t Dennieton, en the Friday night immediately preceding the flood, when a terriffic gale raged, a man was blown over the cliff and broke a leg. Mr M'Kenzie. M.H.R.. telegraphs from Longfoi'd that the Buller dredge carried away, and two men were drowned.

A baker's delivery-cart horsei was drowned in a depression in one of the principal streets.

■Reports from up the Buller show that very considerable damage was done by Saturday's flood. Tho Fern Flat dredge sank, and two lives were lost. The Buller Junction dredge was carried three miles down the rher and deposited in Croawell's j>addock, a.nd the Welcome dredge was earned down the river two miles and- stranded in an awkward position. The bridge at Whiteoliffs was carried away, and a washout occurred at Berlins^ preventing the"- running cf the mail coach service. The river rose to a great height, completely submerging several of the telegraph poles. The scow Haere, when leaving Karamea on Thursday with a cargo of sleepers, ran aground at the mouth of the rivar. . The- major portion of sleepers was discharged, and the vessel wae-t«ken back just inside the -river. There she lay till Friday night, when the heavy gate drove her further up stream, and the- water falling rapidly she was left high and diry .on an island.

MURCHISON. June 26.

Continuous warm rain caused the largest flood known for some years, attended, it is feared, by loss of life. The Buller dredge, Fern Flat^ owned by Bredbury and party, broke from her moorings wihen the flood was at its height about dawn on Saturday. Four m>ei> were on the dredge, which drifted hopelessly for about half a mile towards the gorge. Liddicoat and Craig attempted to swim ashore, and "have not been seen since. There is practically no chance of I heir being alive. The remaining two men, Errick and Menzies, managed to swim ashore. It is probable that the boat attached to the dredge was broken drifting timber before the dredge broke away. Search parties were out all day yesterday. Liddicoat, wiho was manager of the dredge, leaves a widow and one child. Craig is unknown in the district.

THE DAMAGE jk CANTERBURY. CHRISTCHURCH, June 26.

Judging from the deposits at hedges and trees, there must have been Bft of water at places on the roads. In the paddocks stock suffered severely, although it is impossible to glean ajry definite tidings as to the amount of losses, but sufficient is seen to justify the assumption that some farmeis will be very heavy losers. The damage to the crops is also very great. In half the paddocks feed will be spoiled for the winter, and where in crop the seed is ruined hy deposited silt. Thei-e will, of course, be an immense growth of feed in the spring in the paddocks, where silt lies, but meantime it is practically ruined for the season. Those who have suffered most will probably be those who had potatoes in pits. Many of these were seen along the road where water had scoured out -the pits and scattered tubers . over the fields, carrying them 2fr and 30 chains away 'into paddocks. Where the potatoes have not been washed out tho pits have been flooded and the stores ruined. The same thing applied to the mangel pits, whilst growing mangels were simply washed up by the roots, drifted along like so many soap bubbles, and scattered all over the face of the country.

The roads, as well as the fields, are in a dreadful state. They have been scoured out in all directions,- the formation washed off in places and washed on in others. It will be a matter of considerable expense to the local bodies to repair them.

Fortunately, the flood, for once, came in the daytime. In many oases stock were saved which at night would have been lost. Fortunately, also, the late rains had scoured out the river. This allowed the flood water to get away much quicker than it woxild otherwise have done.

The general opinion is that the- flood is the heaviest experienced in the district since 1868, at which date the oldest inhabitant's memory begins* to • waver.

Railway traffic on the north line was resumed to-day.

Thomas Jeal, tho South Waimakarhi River Board's overseer, came to town to-day and reported that all the groins and embankments, particularly* those between Chaney's and the bridge, had stood the immense strain of Saturday's flood in the Waimakariri very well. Some repairs will be necessary, but it is estimated that tho expenditure thereon will not exceed £200. The greatest amount of damage was done at No. 8 embankment, where some of the concrete" blocks have been undermined, and consequently lowered. All that requires to bs don© is to build the embankment to its original height, and about 70 casks of cement will be necessary for the work. At Mason's Flat, No. 1 wing of the overflow will require to be built up at an estimated cost of £30. The remainder of the repairs are comparatively trifling. Some years ago there was a proposal made to block up one of the old channels of the river, but had this been firing ibe (river would have gone clean

through somewhere about the place wher* the railway accident happened on Saturday. Jeal, who has had considerable experience of the river, is of opinion, that Saturday's flood was about the same height as that of 1887.