THE FLOODS IN AUSTRALIA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 2901, 17 February 1893, Page 3

THE FLOODS IN AUSTRALIA.

[PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.] London. February 15. Sir J. F. Garrick, the Agent-General of Queensland, denies that there is any intention of raising a loan on account of the loßßeg by the floods. The Queensland committee hare cabled to Brisbane the sum of £1000 in aid of the sufferers by the floods. Brisbane, February 16. It again raining, and the rivers are rising. (Receive! February 17, noon.) Brisbane, B'ebruary JL7. Among the phenomenal rainfall recently 34 inches in 24 hours was recorded at Blackall ranges, about 625 miles north-west of Brisbane. This is believed to be the world's record. Heavy rain is falling at Toowoomba, and most of the Darling Down* stations expect great floods. Tremendous floods are anticipated in Bundaberg, 272 miles north of Brisbane, and trains are in" readiness to convey the inhabitance from North Bundaberg. If the drought continue in Central Queensland for another two months most of the stock will be dead.

Weeunoton, February 17The Railway Commissioners desire that any persons sending by rail goods for ihe relief of the sufferers in Queensland, should cor sign them to the Queensland relief fund. "DuNEMy, February 17. The fiords meeting whs largely attended. The principal speech was by Mr Luxen, formerly editor of the " Brisbane Courier," who gave a graphic account of the devastation. The Mayor acknowledged receipt ©f subscriptions amounting to £110, exclusive of £50 sent d rect to Brisbane by Reid and Gray. At the meeting £120 was received in donations.

The directors of the Kaiapoi Woollen Company forwarded on Monday a bale of blankets and hosiery for distribution among the Bufferers by the floods in Queenslend. Government have arranged with the Railway Commissioners to carry produce contributed to Queensland free over all the lines* of the colony. The Wellington City Council have opened subscription lists, and the Wellington "Evening Post" has also obtained a large sum. Each of the Timaru mills s«nds a ton %of flour by the Hauroto to the Mayor of Brisbane, as a contribution to the relief of the distress. At a special meeting of the Tomuka Town Board en Tuesday evening it was decided to convene a public meeting early in the ensuing week, to arrange for affording relief to the £ sufferers by the Queensland floods. The local Lodge of Good Templars, at a meeting held the same evening, voted two guineas from the funds for the same purpose. This is apart from members' individual subscriptions. On Sunday next special collections will be made in the churches of St Saviour, Temuka, and St John, Winchester, in aid of the relief funds. At Timaru an energetic committee, ekcted by a public meeting held on Wednesday, has taken in hand the raising of funds, and will collect subscriptions, whether in coin or kind, for the relief of the Queenslanders.

A STIRRING AFPjEAL. Mr John Abbot, writing to the editor of the Auckland "Herald," draws the moving picture and makes the stirring appeal that follow :—A loud knock Has been made at the door of our hearts : "The floods lift up their voice," and imperiously summon judgment, conscience, memory, imagination, and will to the bar of the house. The speaker in tempast puts the question clearly and forcibly, and urgently demands help. We have read of the victories (call them ravages) of Hannibal, Csesar, Alexander, Napoleon; but, save in the revolting elements of carnage, the*r sanguinary engagement* were but bagatelles compared with this battle of the elements. Look at the forces. They are marshalled everywhere—in the front, the rear, the right, the left, above, beneath. They are übiquitous and omnipotent. No commissariat service, no unwieldy baggage trajns; smokeless ppwder, engines of destruction powerful at all ranges. The streets are swept, the gigantic bridges bow the knee, tremble, and fail; the goods are spoiled ; the houses pirouette, but it ia the dance of death, for they are swept with living freight before the fury of the enemy. A brave man breasts the torrentj six long miles f,e swims with his life in his hands; at length he reaches an ark of ostensible safety; climbing a tree, ho is stung to death by scorpions and centipedes on the very rock of imaginary salvationHaving escaped the violence ot the waves. 1, vengeance suffered him not to live. Death, however, might be more welcome than the lives of many of the wretched survivors, stripped of fortune, shattered in health, bereft of friends ; despoiled and diseased in their sadness and desolation, they mourn like /oves. Despair, ruin, - jni«Jery are their bftsom companions. The memories of the past may serve only to intensify the horrors of the present. Had theirs been the misfortune of fire, on the gaunt chimney stacks and charred iuins insurance would have shone out in golden letters, but in their aqueous horizon neither sun, moon, nor stars appear ; the sky is withered, no irridescent bow ot hope spans the heavens. By the rivers of Brisbane there, thay sit down, harp on the willow, chanting the dirge of mourning, lamentation, and woe. 'Assistance in coin is a good thing, but if the succour is prompt ifc is a far grander circumstance, because under this timely ~ spontaneity lies the mightiest moral forcas, sympathy and love Like the oil and wine of the good Samaritan, the former will heal; the latter if it does noc strengthen, will e6rtainly stimulate. This then is the anodyne for their bleeding wounds. The l/tHyov should convene a public meetinig ; the churches ought to go in the van : the contributions should be forthcoming instanter, and the proceeds wired to the theatre of distress with as little delay as possible.