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
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Bibliographic details
Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19450, 27 March 1933, Page 11
Word Count
454WOOD IN PLENTY Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19450, 27 March 1933, Page 11
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