FLOODS IN THE NORTH.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 July 1925, Page 5

FLOODS IN THE NORTH.

HOW , ONE WOMAN FARED. LAUGIIITRR AKIN TO TEARS. The triala and tribulations of the woman in the homo during the Ran- I gitaiki floods are graphically described I by one housewife in a letter written I while the waters still surrounded her | home. In forwarding her letter to the Auckland Herald, her friend remarks:—“You can Bee what a shocking visitation has come to this district. Most of us Bottlers —I have now thrown the towel in—have spent years of Irard work here, and I can assure you it is going to finish hundreds of once fairly well-to-do farmers.” The letter which was enclosed proved to be a very human document, which painted a remarkably vivid and lifedike picture of the flood as it appeared -to those most affected. The writer is a woman, and the manner in which the women of the flooded districts attempted to put a brave face on their trials aud tribulations is well illustrated. lIOdJISEHOI-lD STORES SHORT. Iler letter describes how, on the first Thursday, when the water began to rise, it was thought it would come no higher than on previous occasions. But the inundation continued to rise, and there was no sleep for the family on the Thursday night. On the Friday the water poured across the lawn until the house was awash and the tops of the fences covered. Soon it was three inches deep in the washhouse and outer rooms. As it had been intended to call for stores on the Thursday, there was no bread, no meat, no I potatoes and even no firewood in the house, “I have had to bake scones and cook ham and jiea soup until I am sick of the sight of ham,” the writer says. "My husband managed .to kill two fowls—bdth laying, of course—but we could-not run down the c»os we wanted. So we have tightened in our belts —two meals a day. We would not, .mind for ourselves,'but-the poor cattle have ‘roosted* on the sandhills since Thursday without feed.” (The letter was -written on the following Tuesday). DROVING CATTLE FROM CANOE. The difficulties in the way -moving* cattle to more comfortable quarters arc illustrated -by a few ■ brief sentences which read: “A easroe eame across all the paddoeks right up to the door to help move the cattle across the river. They tried all the afternoon and the brutes would not -budge. So -they are bringing a crowd of men to-morrow to shift them .across the sandhills. I -believe the high, land is like a fair. Everyone who ;could get their cattle across took them there.” ‘fl have all the floor -coverings- up," runs another paragraph, “ready for emergencies, but so far we are safe.” A note of despair finds its way into the next few lines: “I wish I were a man! I have been at all -sort? of jobs, but I cannot lift. I am bare-footed all-day. And then I cannot steep or eat.” PUTTING THE (BEST FACIE ON IT. “It would give a sort of,, Robinson Crusoe feeling,” the -writer says later, “if it were mot for the dreadful. loss it will mean to all around us.” She then tells of a telegram which had to be delivered in a rather novel manner. It was telephoned from the post office to a near-by store and the message was enclosed in' a tin in company with a loaf of bread, and hauled across the flood with a fishing line. Travellers by road in the flooded areas had to cover parts of their journey in a boat, which was propelled by one man rowing, one •pushing behind and one pulling in front, while the luggage followed behind in a dray. The concluding paragraph of the letter is perhaps the most human of all. After the experiences described it is not surprising that the writer is carried away a little by her feelings. She remarks that when the floods go down the farm wilt be covered in silt which, while spoiling the grass for the time, will later act as manure. Thon rather unexpectedly she adds the following:—“Oh, dash the farm! I could write and write —but I am a wee bit downhearted although I am laughing and swearing like a trooper—anything to buck them up. I slipped on the slimy stuff to-day and came down such a cropperl But I looked such a wreck —greasy- and wet —that my husband fairly had a fit, so I had to laugh. But my back was sore and 1 was near to crying—face all mud splashes and hair bedraggled. All my rough corners are getting bumped all .right.”