FLOOD WATERS RECEDE

Southland Times, Issue 23998, 13 December 1939, Page 8

FLOOD WATERS RECEDE

LAND COVERED WITH DEBRIS BRIDGES WASHED AWAY BY TORRENT (United Press Association) WELLINGTON, December 12. Receding today as rapidly as it had risen the Hutt river left many hundreds of acres in the upper part of the valley covered with shingle, silt and driftwood. An accurate estimate of the damage is not possible but it will tun into thousands of pounds.

Golf clubs in particular have suffered severely. Farmers have lost much stqck and valuable feed has been destroyed. , ~, The Hutt river began to fall after reaching its peak at 5.30 p.m. on Monday when it was 14 feet above normal and continued to fall steadily all today. By 8 o’clock tonight it had gone down about eight feet. The Manor Park golf links presented a desolate scene this afternoon. A large area at the northern end of the course was covered to a depth of about a foot with shingle, boulders, silt and driftwood. The floor of the clubhouse was covered with an inch of silt and a window had been broken by a log thrown against it by the raging water. The W1 .akatiki links at Upper Hutt also suffered severely and will not be payable for a long time. The Hutt links and the Wellington Club’s links at Heretaunga were also flooded but not so seriously. BRIDGES WASHED AWAY The Deep Creek and Flux’s road bridges have been washed away and Cooley’s creek bridge, a big concrete structure, has been left high and dry. The creek has changed its course and washed away 15 chains of fence.. Farmers at Mangaroa, which is an important source of Wellington’s milk supply, clubbed together today and got milk over creeks in carts. All the milk reached Wellington. . . Serious erosion occurred in the Taita Gorge where the Public Works Department built a huge groyne a few years ago. The river apparently got under the stone groyne which collapsed. Once the groyne had gone there was nothing to protect the road and at two places the river has cut several feet into the road, Water flowing over the road on the northern approach to the Silverstream bridge did some damage, scouring the bitumen in several places, but traffic was able to get through from early this morning. MAIN ROAD CLOSED The main road route from Wellington to Wairarapa has been closed for heavy vehicles and for motor-cars at night because of the collapse of the Temarua bridge over the Mangaroa river. The Taita Gorge also remains closed but the other main routes are open. Slips on the Rimutaka hill have been cleared sufficiently to allow cars to pass but care is needed. The Akatarawa road connecting Upper Hutt with Waikanae will be closed until further notice. The Moonshine road connecting Trentham with Pahautanui is blocked. Apart from work trains no regular services were operated between Cross Creek and Upper Hutt on the Wairarapa line today jnd it was stated tonight that no indication could be given when the line would again be open for traffic.

SIX INCHES OF RAIN IN 24 HOURS RANGATIRA DELAYED BY WEATHER (United Press Association) AUCKLAND, December 12. The director of R. B. Davies Proprietary, Ltd., Mr R. B. Davies, who was a through passenger in an American vessel which called at Auckland, is the controller of 13 munitions annexes under the supervision of the Commonwealth Government. His company has been engaged in making hand grenades for the past two years and the outbreak of war has meant a heavy increase in orders. “That isn’t my business,” he said, when asked if grenades were • shipped to other parts of the Empire. He added that -the manufacturers of war weapons did not consider the question of profit, the work being looked upon in the light of a national undertaking. Speaking of import control in Australia, Mr Davies said it was necessary for all the Dominions to introduce such a scheme in order to prevent the pound sterling slipping, as compared with the American dollar. Now that Britain was buying munitions from America, it was necessary that the dollar exchange be conserved.