MAYORAL STATEMENT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 59, 24 March 1944, Page 5

MAYORAL STATEMENT

THE RECENT FLOOD

TIfAXKS AXI) CRITICISM

The following statement in relatiibn to the recent flood hasi beeni handed to the Beacon by His Worship the Mayor, Mr B. S. Barry. v "I desire on behalf of the residents of the Borough to express thanks and appreciation to Mr Lvsaght, the ■ Borough Electrical Engineer, Mr Henderson, the Borough ForemanEngineer, their workmen, members of the Power Board stall' and other helpers for the great work they did during the Hood. Mr Lysaglit, the members of the Borough Electrical stall' and of the Power Board staff did a marvellous job in restoring the electricity. This involved the preparation and erection of eleven poles and the stringing of over a mile of wire. The men worked from early morning to late ■at night oil Saturday under adverse conditions, with only short, spells for such meals as could be sent, out to them. Mr Henderson with the members of his stall' and the workmen of Hall and Howat and Brabant Bros. Limited have worked over the whole of the week-end to repair as much of the damage as possible. The measures taken by Mr Henderson were responsible for preventing much further -damage.

The same thanks and appreciation cannot be extended to those irresponsible people who spread exaggerated rumours about the town with the result that these appeared in many newspapers throughout New Zealand.

The imprisoned water on Hillcrest slated by those papers to be about a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide was actually not more than '-P/2 chains long and of an average "width of 50 feet.

To say that this water led to the gravest fears for the safety of the town was ridiculous. Judging from telephone messages which 1 received, this report evidently led people in other parts of the country to think that the town was in danger -of being totally swept away. I do not deny that this water caused the. : gravest anxiety and it was a great relief when the danger past. This •danger however, would have been limited to the further flooding of and consequent damage, to the town but' certainly would not have involved the safety of the toAvn.

Evacuation of the town Avas nev«er at. any time ordered. When it Avas "doubtful whether the water on Hillcrest would hold I sent a Avarning :to the shopkeepers and advised them ■to take all necessary precautions as I did not wish tjiem to be caught unprepared a second time.

These: exaggerated statements luiac done a •considerable, amount of harm to the town beside.s, throwing extra unnecessary work on an already overAvorked telephone exchange. Anxious- relatives were ringing up from all <)A 7 er New Zealand. Offers of assistance were received from nuiner-* ous sources. The Prime Minister, •the Right Honourable Mr Peter ..Fraser personally 'telephoned me twice. Messages and oilers of assistance were also received from the Minister of Public Works, the Pub3ic Works Engineer, Tauranga, the Chief Traffic Inspector, Auckland, Mr L. R. Wilkinson, Mayor of Tauranga, and Mr J. L. Burnett, Chairman of the County Council. To these gentlemen and to Mr Dicker, the Engineer Manager .of the Hay of Plenty Power Board, "whose staff rendered such yeoman service, I extend my thanks. B. S„ BARRY, Mayor. (The mention in the above statement of the exaggerated reports that appeared in newspapers throughout New Zealand, demands in fairness to the Beacon and its staff something -of an explanation. The only reports sent away from this office Avent to the two Auckland papers and, these, when they appeared in print had been so added to and distorted by items gleaned from other parts of the Dominion as to be utterly unreliable. The dimensions of the dammed-up waters' at Hill-crest is a case in point and reference to the records of stories wired away by members of this staff will bear out, that no measurements were, given whatsoever—merely the. statement -that many tons of water were impounded Avhich was correct. How these stories got abroad is, still apparently a mystery. The clearing of the Strand another point made by Mr Barry <is a further story and whether he gave the order or not. the fact remains that most of . the townspeople were led to believe he did, and promptly (Continued in next column)

——W—MM— I I —— carried it out. Phone messages, special messengers, loud speakers and finally the police, all played their part in effecting the clearance. It is rather amusing to reflect that none of these were apparently backed by official authority. It is difficult in the light of subsequent events to recapture some of the tension which pervaded the town oA'cr Friday afternoon an*' Saturday night when Dame Rumour was given the fullest rein Avith re-> gard to the 11 Merest threat. This, danger, we still Rcl could unquestionably have had very serious consequei*ccs which cannot be ißinimisod even now. Ed.}