A GIFT OF THE SEA

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2531, 4 August 1915, Page 2

A GIFT OF THE SEA

WOOD FOR BAY RESIDENTS,

The usually dean foam-swepFteach at the southern bays presented , a unique spectacle yesterday morning, as it also did during the whole_ of Monday. By some freak of the Strait currents masses of drift., wood, great trunks of trees, fern stumps, and a great deal of waterworn flotsam, the product doubtless of the flooded rivers of the West Coast (North Island), have been washed ashore at Oliiro, Island, Houghton, and Lyall Bays, and eacli succeeding tide is bringing more ashore. The flotsam is not confined to brushwood, , but great trunks (with a maze of branches protruding) up to 40ft. in length litter the beaches, and the rocky promontories between thc-m. This rather extraordinary happening created considerable excitement among the bay-dwellers on Monday and yesterday, and everyone lias been making' great efforts to lay in a stock of firewood. Some of tlio residents gathered great piles on tho beaches on Monday, and set a guard on them the whole night through, until carts were available to remove them to the safety of the homo woodshed. Some teams of men and horses worked throughout the night. One resident of Island Bay stacked np a goodly pile, but failing to set a guard on it found it gone the next morning. Men and boys with axes and saws got to work on this gift from the sea yesterday, and many a seaside homo lias already laid in a stock of firewood that will last for years. There is still plenty left. The beach is still lumbered with countless logs, many of which look as if the present has not been their first ocean voyage. They have probably been deposited at some period above the highwater mark, until the flood has caused them to move seaward. Some of the logs are so heavy and long that they must be considered a menace to shipping, and shipmasters are warned of the danger, _________ In order to enhance' the success of the Declaration Day proceeding's taking place at the Miramar Town Hall on. Wednesday evening, the Officer Commanding the Wellington District of the National Reserve "Colonel Porter, has exempted the Miramar reservists from the general parade of the Reserve in the City, thus enabling them to parade at the suburban function. A notice to Miramar reservists appears in this issue.