The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1893. THE QUEENSLAND FLOOD.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 2897, 13 February 1893, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1893. THE QUEENSLAND FLOOD.

What with labor trouble?, budget deficits, draughts and the check to the sugar industry the lot of Queensland has lately not been a happy one, and now, when her affairs appealed likely to begin to right themselves, the crowning calamity has come upon the colony. Tiie flood of 1890 was said to have been the worst that had been experienced in Queensland up to that time, but the present flood far exceeds that in extent and destructivene&s. Happily the loss of life has been small, but the devastation of property is appalling—it was estimated at two millions sterling in a telegram received on Friday, but nobody cm possibly have any Mea yet of the actual extent of the loss. The damage in Brisbane alone is awful. The city contains about 35,000 inhabitants and the suburbs bring the population up to between seventy and eighty thousand. The city is only some 58 feet above sea level, and the River Brisbaue describes a winding course of about 25 miles round the city and flows through the business partof the townintlie form of an "S." Queen street, which had from eight to ten feet of water in it, is one of the best built streets in the colonies, among other buildings being Her Majesty's Opera House, one of the finest theatres in Australia, London Chartered Bank, several magnificent places of worship, a palatial pile known as the Brisbane Newspaper Company's building, which cost £105,500 to erect, and the large building of the Australian Mutual Provident Society, Other business streets had as imich as 35 feet of water in them, which means that even if the buildings escaped injury their contents must have been destroyed, The destruction of the Victoria Bridge is a oalanrity in itself, as the structure was the finest of the kind in Australia, and cost in the neighbourhood of a quarter of a million scerling, and the submersion of the Botanical Gardens, with their wealth of tropical and senaitropical trees and plants, is an almost irreparable loss. The flooded area extends for neariy two hundred raises, an 4 includes, the telegram says ? f< ttye whole eastern portion of tho colony.'' I£ \s in this part of the colony that agriculture, including sugar-growing, is most advanced, and there are also mines of great importance. The floods have washed away the crops and flooded the mines, and the devastation appears to be even more complete than is the case in the towns. It is a sad picture, and the distress that has been, caused is qijite beyontf the powtp of Queensland itself to adequately relieve. No doubt New Zealand will help its distressed neighbor, and Ash bur ton contribute its mite. It i% to be hoped that the renewed rainfall will not make matters worse than we already know tjh,ein to be.