THE KAIAPOI MILLS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17037, 10 May 1923, Page 6

THE KAIAPOI MILLS.

WORK RESUMED TO-DAY. 'l’ll© damage to the Kaiapoi Woollen Company’s mills will not be anything like as extensive as was thought to he the case on Tuesday. A close inspection of the mills was made late yesterday afternoon by the manager, Mr T. R. Leifchead. who stated that the principal loss would lie caused by loss of lime in having to close the mills. •• The actual damage and deterioration are a mere bagatelle,” said Mr I.eithead. There would be a few soiled blankets, arid a quantity of dyes and chemical© had been destroyed, but eh© biggest trouble to he experienced would be the re-washing, and drying of the ar tides that had been affected by the Tbe total number of employees at the mills is 300. of whom about two - thuds ar* women, and Mr hothead

stated that *ll the male employees would be working full time by midday to-day. In regard ot- the women workers. he did not expect that they would be fully employed again until Monday morning owing to workrooms being too damp for them to work in. The whole of the machinery w*e tried out yesterday, and worked satisfactorily. WATER TWENTY-ONE INCHES DEEP. During the. height of the flood on Tuesday afternoon, the depth of water in most of the rooms was 21 in, and ah 4.30 yesterday th© water had been practically cleared from most of the departments, although there was still j fully 2ft of water in the main yard, j In. the carding and spinning depart- ; ments, the floors of which are 2ft above the level of the other departments, no damage whatever was done, the highest point reached by the water being 3in below the floor. It was exceedingly fortunate that these two departments escaped the effect of the flood, as-a tremendous amount of damage would hare been don© if the water had entered them. The weaving department ia in the part of th© building that had 21in ot flood water on Tuesday, but yesterday afternoon it had been swept practically clean again, all available male employees having been engaged lor the cleaning up. At 1 p.m. the depth of water was only about 3in, and it continued to rapidly eubeide. NO DAMAGE TO MACHINES. Practically no damage whatever was done to the machinery, but the wool the warps was thoroughly soaked, and may give a little trouble. In the adjoining rooms a great many bundles of blamkets and rugs were piled up above tbe level of tbe water, a number of men having worked until late on Monday, night- stacking them up. Jn preparing for the expected flood waters, the officials of the mills based tlieir ca km la tion#; on the jubilee flood of 1887. Had it been anticipated that- the water was going to nee to a higher level than was the case in .1887, it is probable that considerably less damage would have been done to the stocks. WATER. IN "WOOD STORE. The water also entered tbe wool store, where between two and three thousand bales of greasy wool are stacked, and the bales on the'bottom tier were soaked and will have to be removed and dried. Two electric motors on the ground floor became wet by the flood and will have to be dried out before they can be used again, but the motor© connected to the Lake Coleridge supply are suspended from the ceilings, and escaped damage altogether. The company’s own electric generator which supplies the lighting for the rnillß was not damaged. In the engine-room, the main driv-ing-wheel was still under water yesterday afternoon, hut in most other parts of the buildings the water had been cleared away. The boilers were got working during the morning, although it was only a few hour© previously that th© water had entered the interior ot the flues. A FLOATING FLOOR. A gratifying feature in connection with yesterday’s flood wa© the small j amount of silt left be-hiiyf inside the j buildings, but on the outside the conditions were very muddy. The engineer’s workshop at the mills, which has a clay floor, was ir* ,i very bad condition after the water bad drained away. In this building the water rose to a height; of three feel. and covered the blacksmith’s forge and the big lathe. Adjoining the engineer’s workshop is the carpenters’ shop. Prior to the flood it had a wooden floor, but yesterday the floorboards were piled up in unsightly heaps. On Monday night when Mr Brown visited the workshops, he found the floor of the carpenters’ shop floating op the water and apparently it broke up when the flood subsided.