THOUSANDS OF CARCASES BEING BURIED

Chronicle (Levin), 17 May 1948, Page 5

THOUSANDS OF CARCASES BEING BURIED

. GISBORNE, kay 17. , The toll of livestock alone will .•ffn into iiiany thousands of head jf Sheep, pigs and cattle. lyforfe .hah 6000 carcases of sheep, witli :elatively . small numbers of pigs Jfi'd 6dttl'e, were trucked to thfe ifeezing works yesterday ana iiiihped in Belsen-like piles. It waS ;&Stirhatfed this morning tltat about 8000 carcdses remained on farms and no reckonmg has vet been made of the piles of drowned stock. On a long stretch- of beach thl driVfers 'df trucks carting siltcovered cafcasbs paiiited a grim pictUre of the plight of Settlers iven within a few liiiles bf thfe ,owp boundary during ihe peak oi ihe flood. This mornihg bulldozers and ;ract(jrs began excavating mas| grave's and Buried thousands oi carcases, which have overtaxed the capacity of the boiling down plant at tlie freezing works. Yesterdaj volunteers began skinning- hugfe piles of . carcases before Mling down ih am ende^vbur to save t^e Wool for the hard hit owriers. Tfe raise steam for the boiling doym plant this morning, in view of the broken water supply pipeline, watei had to' Be transported to thfe worjks and pumped from the trucks fire b'rigade punips. Retufiis frdm the carcases as manure and wodl •will be distfibiited to farmers on a pro rata basis.( Aliafoohed ih nfearly sii feet of water in an old hangaf o'n Dartbn field, two Tiger Moth aircraft, ohe belonging to the Gisborne Aero Club ahd anOther-Owned by. MessrS Jarhfes Bfbs., bf Tolaga Bay, suffered extensive damage from water •ind silt, , Aztr. J. Pelloiv, an engineer of National Airways, and sev^ eral helpers towed two machiries out of four t,o safety,_ but befdrfe they Weie able tb return for thfe cther two machines the water waS fcdo deep, The tail.of feach alrciaft apparently floated and silt waS fairly .thick in the coekpits. Both aircraft will h&ve to be . strippfed down arid fhe engine and framfework of eacia thoroughly cleanfed bfefprfe Being reassembled. Approximately 100 gallons of petrol belonging to the cliib, and stored in ih undferground tarik into which flood water seeped, is ndw a dfeid ldss.