COAST.

Colonist, Volume XII, Issue 1157, 27 October 1868, Page 3

COAST.

LOSS OF LIFE, AND DESTKTTCTION OF PROPEBTY;

THE BULLER RIVER,

The Westport Evening \Star of Wednesday, Oct. 14, says :—'' The heaviest flood which has occurred in the Buller since the town wag established, commenced yesterday, and this morning apparently attained its height. It is not only the heaviest flood which has occurred, but it is also the most destructive. Its height was more than a foot above the last great flood which happened in January last, and the amount of public property which has been destroyed much greater. Only one of the wharves has been absolutely carried away, but another lias b<?eu placed in a very precarious position, and there has generally been an amount of damage done to the river protection works, which it is impossible, just at present, fully to realise. There can, however, be little doubt that the outlay and labor of a year have, to a great extent, been rendered valueless, and there is as little doubt that this loss of money and work is due, not alone to the flood, but to the dilatory and contemptible peddling manner in which the execution of the works now destroyed hns been carried on. One immediate cause of the flood was a heavy rainfall; another, and the primary cause, is, no doubt, the circumstance that the wind accompanying the rain was a nor'easter, and the fact that these winds are characterised by a high temperature—such a temperature as would have a very rapid influence upon the winter deposits of snow upon the highest ranges in the interior. The fresh thus caused commenced to attain the dimensions of a flood about noon yesterday. Apart from the weather signs, the quantity of dead timber which was being brought down by the stream indicated that t'\e river had already considerably overBpread its banks in the back country, and before sunset the captains and watermen made their craft secure, and the morning proved that the precautions had not been taken without good reason. The river, this morning, had attained a height so great, and win throwing such a body of water towards the north or Westport bank, that some damage either to bank or works seemed to be certain. The first point of pressure ■was at Cobden-street, where a wharf has recently been constructed, and from which an incomplete row of piles extended nearly to the Lyttelton-slreet wharf. The wharf, withstood the force of the stream, but the piles vibrated and bent in all directions until they looked a very sorry spectacle. The wharf below them (called the Upper or Lyttelton-street wharf) was of more importance, for it was a very useful one, at which the sailing vessels from Melbourne and Dunedin, as well as the coasting steamers are most frequently discharged. About four o'clock in the morning this wharf gave decided signs of weakness, and soon after, they became alarming ; piles, which at first creaked, cracked; bolts broke ; and there was such an increasing disposition on the part of the whole structure to betake itself to the sea that Captain Leech thought it right to rouse the District Engineer. Mr. Lowe appeared on the scene with promptness, but the wharf was still more expeditious in its disappearance, for by the time he had arrived it had departed. Some of it had subsided into the stream, the rest was ' outward bound,' and very soon the brigatine Ceres was floating, as she now floats, where the wharf vised to stand. The Gladstone-street wharf is perfectly insulated, the street having beon cut away to a breadth of several .yards, and from the way in which it and the weir abovo vibrato with the force of the stream, it is apparent that it is only a wreck the presence of which in the place it stands is due solely to the anchor and chains to which it was made fast. A wooden building, formerly used as the Custom-house was washed down, and in order to save the Gladstone-street wharf, it was broken np and removed. The Stanley wharf withstood the flood, and does not seem to be in any way damaged. In the township of Westport itself the flood has been the cause of no inconvenience whatever. The water ran flush with the bank, but it did not intrude into the town, the greater part of which is situated on a sufficient elevation to be free from such a contingency. A dead body was discovered on the south side of the river, and it was supposed to be the body of a man nanzed 'Austrian Jack,' who was drowned by the upsetting of a canoe about a fortnight or tbrea weeks ago, on some dangerous falls." A Pole, known by the name of George Brown, a hawker of vegetables, &c, has been missing ever since the night of the flood. When last seen, he was in a state of intoxication, and it is conjectured that he fell into the river and was swept away. A g»le and a flood occurred in the Buller river on Thursday, October 15. The river encroached more . seriously upon its northern bank, large slices of which were carried away. Twenty-four hogsheads of beer and the result of an excellent " brew" were lost by the water making a clean breach through the cellar of the Westport Brewery. The work of the brewery will be interrupted for some weeks, thus causing a serious loss to the proprietor, Mr. David Leslie. The Stanley whurf was strained and otherwise damaged.