DANGER REMOVED.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 661, 14 January 1933, Page 11

DANGER REMOVED.

Children Caught in Weir Back-current. Water scouring under the weir in the Avon below the Antigua Street bridge has been responsible for a good deal of erosion in the bed of the river there. This scouring has now been stopped, for Drainage Board workmen have placed a barrier of sandbags covered with shingle against the weir to stop the water getting underneath. Several of the many children who bathe in the river at this point had narrow escapes from drowning when they clambered over the weir and fell into the holes on the down-stream side, it is stated. These holes/ which were up to four feet deep, have now been filled in, but originally, with the water swirling back towards the weir making it difficult for a young bather to regain his depth, they constituted a menace. One of the Drainage Board workmen fell into a hole while repairing the weir and received a thorough ducking. A good example of how the eddy held objects close to the weir was seen this morning, when a large dead eel turned over and over in the water. It had evidently been there for a considerable time. Twigs and smaller branches also swirled backwards and forwards, unable to break away from the current.