Inter-Provincial.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VII, Issue 352, 22 April 1897, Page 7

Inter-Provincial.

HAWKES BAY. The flood —Death of Leonora and several other brood mares—Cyclists in difficulties, Napier, April 20. Owing to the flood which we had on Friday last Fred Collins, 0. Siddells, and Tom Sweeney, with their respective teams had to quit Greenmeadows and take refuge in Napier. Robinson Crusoe, who forms one of Collins’ team, is '! located at Palmer’s stables, while the other members of the string, Morag, Drury Lane, a five-year-old daughter of Patriarch and Claudina, and a two-year-old filly by Rewata out of the Anteros mare Maratama, are up at their owner’s, Mr George Richardson, place on the hospital hill. Moonraker, Maid Marion, and Billy are at ■' Rymers’s stables. Although the Park Racing Club’s course and fixtures are situated in close proximity to where the principal part of the deluge took place, they have come out of the ordeal all right, as will be seen when I state that / of 150 sheep that were grazing on their property, not a single one has been lost. With the exception of a small deposit of silt at the back of the course, and a slight list to seaward of the galvanised fence that encloses the grand stand and lawn enclosure, matters are as they were c’-’j previous to the flood. News from Hastings, and it has been a bit patchy for th<> last few days, tells of the death by

drowning of Captain Russell’s brood mare Leonora, and a couple of stud matrons belonging to the owner of Flaxmere. Mr W. Douglas, of Temahanga, has also lost three of his brood mares, the names of which I have not been able to ascertain. As showing the effect the storm has had upon the postal department, no Sporting Reviews of last week are yet to hand. The Waipukerau races, which were to have taken place on Easter Monday, have been post poned indefinitely, interruption in the railway traffic being the cause of the postponement. MrjA. McCartney, who is one of the missing boat’s crew, is the well known licensee of the Albion Hotel in this town. He officiated for some time back as judge at the Town and Suburban meetings, and a few years ago had Fiscal orius at the service of breeders in this district. A team of the Wanderers’ Bicycle Club, consisting of Messrs. A. C. Norris, W. R. Jourdain, Caughley, Pocock, T. Oliver, and T. Taylor, accompanied by Messrs. Bowman, Lindsay, and Strickland, of the Amateur Athletic Club, left Napier on Good Friday by the express train, er route for the . Wanganui meeting, which was timed for Easter Monday. The train got along all right until Pakipaki was reached, about seventeen miles from Napier, when a halt took place, as it was found upon reaching that place that nothing but water loomed in sight, and it was not considered advisable to proceed further until advice had been obtained from the authorities. A message was sent at once to Hastings, from whence two men were despatched to Napier on a trolly, asking for instructions. Hour after hour passed and no news came, while the water deepened in front, and the situation became more serious. There was very little food on the train, and the passengers had to do without lunch. At last, at half-past five, it was decided to return to Hastings, and the train slowly proceeded back, many stops having to be made on account of the critical condition of the rails. Hastings was at last reached, and a rush made for the hotels, all of which were quickly crowded by the unusual number of strangers, who started to relieve their now ravenous hunger. After putting in Saturday and Sunday at Hastings, the party returned to Napier at mid-day on Monday. To say that they enjoyed the trip would be a stretch of the imagination, but, as several of the team remarked to me, it might have been worse, and I think they were lucky to get home with their lives.