RAVAGED BEAUTIES

Taranaki Daily News, 8 March 1935, Page 4

RAVAGED BEAUTIES

REPAIRS TO BAINES TERRACE. RECOVERY FROM FLOOD DAMAGE. Submerged by the flood waters dammed behind the Vivian Street bridge and flattened by the force of the current, the flower-beds and shrubberies of Baines Terrace by the Huatoki River bore an appearance of desolation when the river subsided but are gradually regaining their attractiveness. Walks have been cleared and flower-beds re-cultivated and the washout by the bridge filled and protected.

Little can now be seen of the occurrence of a fortnight ago, except neat piles of gathered wood and the combed and swept appearance of the tall grass along the eastern bank. Workmen have been engaged on the clearing-up for several days ana have almost completed the job. The waters swirling by the bridge ate a large hole extending into the Carrington Road pathway, but that has now been filled in. The face of the tilling has been covered with a stone batter held together with wire-netting. There should be little fear of flood in the future. Stilled after their rush downstream, tire quantities of silt carried down by the Huatoki were deposited over the walks of the terrace between the foot bridge and the Vivian Street crossing. The banks below the foot-bridge were covered several inches deep in fine sandy soil and in the plantation towards Brougham Street there is still litered debris upon a surface of caked mud. Generally, however, Baines Terrace and Lovers’ Walk, on the western side of the now placed Huatoki, are almost the places of quiet beauty they were before and the bushes on the far side will not take long to lose their bruised appearance.