THE HOPELESS CASE OF HOKITIKA

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2125, 17 April 1914, Page 7

THE HOPELESS CASE OF HOKITIKA

(To tho Editor.) Sir,—lt t»ay not bo generally known that there is no way of prev*ntini» thoPeriodical' inundations to winch Btifcitika is liable. It was away back in I tho "eighties" that I saw the sea-water ponrin-K into Bevoll Street, and this wilj occur again and again, whenever certain conditions combine, lievell Street should never have been laid off close to . fliKlHvator mark, and houses should never have been built so near tho "sad sea waves." It would, bo bettor to abandon tile vo-r.y low part of' tho town oven now, and to remove to higher pound, instead of continuing a hopeloss struggle against tlio .relentless sea. Tfiore aro four or five conditions, which, if they occur at tho samo timo, are. certain, to cause an inundation. They ate: (1) Spring tides, caused by sun and moon being in conjunction Or op-position; (2) if these two bodies aro near tho limits of their declination north or south, tho spring tides will bo higher than usual; (3) a storm from the north-west will be. a. very potent factor in further raising tlio soft-level;' (4)'. a low barometer tvill further intensify tiro trouble; and (5) a flood in the HoTtitjka Itiver will causa the eup of tribulation to overflow, In other words, it will fiiMso the sea to break into ftercll Street, It, is not difficult to withstand any- of those causes taken singly, but whoa they all occur at the samo timo : the-y are irresistible, and the case js hopeless.— l am, etc., '' ] C. W. ADAMS,