KAWARAU.

Clutha Leader, Volume V, Issue 222, 11 October 1878, Page 7

KAWARAU.

Referring to the flood, the Cromwell Argus says :— lt is impossible while the waters still contimie" .at so {high a level ; to conceive the extenti ; pfjjianiage done throughout the country.; Bridges, roads; telegraph lines, and property of every kind

have suffered to a greater or less extent, and it will be many months before matters are again brought into their original condition, at the cost of a vast outlay of money. Before the greater calamities, other misfortunes serious to individuals are dwarfed for the time, but their effect will be none the less felt for a considerable time to come. The mining industry of the country must have received a most damaging blow. Water-races everywhere are in wreck, and the higher lands are in such a sodden state that slips may be looked for at any moment, and of any magnitude. On' the Queenstown road, we are told, whole mountain sides are on the move, and at many places it is impossible for a pedestrian to get along where the road was. LAKE WAKATIP. A Queenstown telegram, dated October 4th, reports : — The rainfall on Saturday night proved the greatest ever known in the whole of this disti-ict. The whole country has been moved by landslips. The lake rose three feet higher than ever before known, and on Sunday the town presented a deplorable appearance. The town creek was overflowing worse than ever, little torrents ran down into it ; the upper part ojf_ the town was three feet under water, ''and the low-lying portions wholly submerged, there being from eight to ten feet of water in some ploces. Eichardt's Hotel had four feet of water in it, and Hallenstein's store (higher up Beach-st.) three feet. The premises of Mr Hotop (chemist), the Prince of Wales Hotel, the Victoria, and Davis' Brewery are gone, and fears are entertained for the safety of Eiehardt's-^from which the proprietor has removed — and the Masonic Hall is seriously damaged. The damage cannot be estimated for some days, but the owners must be large losers, both as regards their buildings and stores. All the business has been removed to high ground. The Mail office is partially submerged, and publication of the paper has been stopped until the subsidence of the lake. It will take hundreds of pounds to repair the streets. The roads to Moke Creek and Skippers' are swept away, many places on the road are a mere wreck, and it is is dangerous to travel over on foot. At Skippers Southbey's stables were swept into the stream, and his residence smothered by a landslip, the family barely escaping with their lives. The Shotover was fully ten feet higher than during the Old Man floods. The quartz machinery in the Arrow district is comparatively uninjured. There is not so much damage or distress in the Arrow district. The machine-house of the Macetown Crushing Company is seriously damaged. There is so little communication yet with the oixtlying districts that it is difficult to estimate the loss at present. The flood was at its highest on Tuesday morning. Li is raining again, and if it continues long there will be another flood. No mail has reached here since the 24th. On October sth the Star's Queenstown correspondent telegraphed that the weather since Tuesday had been gradually clearing up, and there was every appearance of lasting fine weather. The floods were very seriously felt in various parts of the district. At the head of the lake's soxirce people had to retire to the ranges. It is reported that all the houses at Kingston, except the hotels and the railway station, have been washed away. TAPANUI. A telegram in the Star, dated October 4th ? reports : — TheMolyneux is gradually falling at the Beaumont, and communication has been restored by means of boats. The flood in the Pomahaka has also been fearfully high. Kelso was several feet under water on Sunday. It has been the highest flood in the Pomahaka since 1870. TUAPEKA MOUTH. The Tuapeka Times correspondent, writing from Tuapeka Month, on Wednesday, October 2, says : — Since my last communication the floods have overwhelmed us. The incessant rain of Saturday and Sunday raised the river very suddenly, so much so that by three o'clock on Sunday we had not an inch of ground to stand upon. Before your correspondent could get himself and big family gathered together the river was entering at one door, while we were glad to escape with our lives. We could save nothing except a few bed-clothes and what we stood in. We took refuge in the Town Hall, and at midnight the cry arose that the waters were within a few inches of us. There was nothing for us but to move again ; and we got fixed at last high and dry. Through the kindness of Mr Bailey (claim owner), we have been snugly ensconced ever since. We are happy to say that, although our loss has been great, no lives have been lost. The casualties are ; Your correspondent has lost a two-roomed comfortable sod hut and all that was stored therein. The dwelling house is still standing, but great will be the loss of goods, &c. John Girvan's loss comprises a two-roomed sod hut fitted up comfortably ; his loss., will also be severe in its effects. James Paterson's . house is still standing,, but his stockyard has disappeared. Of Samuel Smith's house, nothing is standing excepting the chimney. Mr Smith's effects are much damaged. Edward Hames's house is in good condition, but the effects are damaged. Mr Pearce's House is standing, but the effects are much damaged. George Hall, of the hotel, was; obliged to quit about four o'clock on Sunday. In a very short time, the. rooms were all full of water. Let the most learned councillor plead at the bar, he would get nothing but waterwater for his -bed, arid water for his board. On Sunday "afternoon, we witnessed the spectacle (sad, yet sublime) of a long length of some bridge sailing majestically down the river ; arid our Mr Hall and; another interpid endeavoured to make an attachment, but ifc proved powerful, for 1 them! Then other pieces, followed the former. ' Some person said, " There , goes some seven < thpusand pounds pfv Government ; money." An alarm was raised ;on : Monday that Mr ;, . John ; Taylor was missing. Six brave fellows^ under the command of our local pilot, r which ; we must now style;Capt. -Hall, manned the liferbpat, and took the " overland; route " in search of him, 1 and. ;found that he had takenrefuge in the garret,: and very thanl^uriie^^ w^.|p osca^e-|romhis prison.. " ; ~Y:eiy. iortunate^was , jMr GDaylprjin* having a garfet to fly to— it 'is' aiu^ry that '': %w;vo.%us;} possess. ajld.thai our summer^^?tp6kfbf-^ard|^rops ■ are , ;lqst|€pU us ; - f or "tHs '{year at'lj&asT,? and':