WOOD IN PLENTY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19450, 27 March 1933, Page 11

WOOD IN PLENTY

WINDFALL FOR WANGANUI. The misfortunes of settlers in the Taumarunui district through the abnormal rain, floods and washouts, have come as a windfall to many people in Wanganui, who are thus assured of good stocks of firewood sufficient to t see them through the winter. t When it became known that large 1 quantities of wood were being carried 1 down river, hundreds of people as- s sembled on the banks with grapples 1 and other equipment in preparation to 1 bring ashore passing logs. The variety . of the supply exceeded all expectations, rand late into the night lamps and *■ torches flickered, while pieces of wood were piled up on the banks above high ■ water mark. At daylight many resi- I dents directed their attention to the J Putiki side, where they found that large quantities of wood had been ‘ deposited in the vicinity of Landguard Bluff. One party of three Gonville resi- , dents, in two hours, secured wood of an estimated value of £3O. This comprised red pine logs ready for milling, t some 2ft 6in through, and up to 30ft . in length, bridge planks 12 x 3 and 12 j x 4, up to 15ft long. They also secured v one piece of similar length 12 x 12, and j. a Rob Roy canoe. I Other parties also gathered in a many useful pieces of timber and f en o- v ing posts. Large quantities of the drift s wood went out to sea, but so far very f little has been deposited on the Castlecliff beach. Later in the day only odd t pieces were coming down the river. I; A pontoon was noticed to strike one £ of the cylinders of the Town Bridge f with considerable force and caused the 0 whole structure to vibrate. An amusing incident occurred at I Putiki. An elderly Maori had gone t out to an island of wood a few chains I from the shore. He was evidently so 1 intent on making a selection that he t did not pay much attention to his boat, with the result that it sank i at its moorings and left him marooned c on the wood. He called lustily _ for r help, and two young men put off in a t boat and brought him ashore. “ The Aramoho railway bridge cylin- j ders were a tangled mass of driftwood and debris. From one of these J cylinders an entire picket fence was _ swinging about in the flood waters. It had the appearance of a stockyard “ fence which had evidently been washed away - by the flood and carried down j the river. A number of small bridges e were seen in the river. c