WOODVILLE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 4095, 5 September 1884, Page 4

WOODVILLE.

[from our own correspondent.] The news of tho sad accident which occurred in the Manawatu river has already reached you. To many of your readers it will be difficult to understand how such a thing could have happened, but on visiting the spot it will be seen that a great many of the whares or cottages of those employed on the bridge works are built almost in the bed of the river. The one in which the victims of the mishap were was actually built in the bed of tho stream, I believe, but on a rise, between which and the shore, however, there is a deeper channel, through which the river used at one time to run. Upon the river rising in flood time, the bank on which the whare stood might be quite high and dry, whilst the access to shore might be cut off. This explains the accident. It was in the transit over this backwater that the capsize took place. The depth of the water would be at least 10 feet. Of course, had any one anticipated a sudden rise of the river there would have been no difficulty in removing the occupiers of tho wharc before the water became deep, but evidently the flood was not expected to be so heavy. I think, however, that it might have been expected. We had had nearly three days of continuous rain. In an almost unbroken downpour it came and continued to come. Most people would expect swollen rivers after that. However, these things do sometimes take us by surprise, and we can but condole with the bereaved relations. It is so easy to sou things after they have hap-

pencd. . . Coming along the mam road to Napier evidences tire everywhere visible that much rain is fallen. Just where Manga-Atua river crosses the main road the water on Wednesday morning was bank to bank, and at one place a very picturesque waterfall was formed by the water trickling over the road in a broad sheet. Of course these pictures, though they may be pretty, are not desirable, as it is simply a matter of time and the road would be washed away. Also some rustic logs had drifted on to the road, which would very soon stop the traffic. Further along a pipe had burst, aud all the road had fallen in, excepting just a sufficient width to allow a coach to pass. Those pipes have been put in instead of culverts. I do not think they are a change for the better, excepting perhaps in the matter of expense. A pipe is very easily blocked up, and thou there is no knowing what may occur, and perhaps a whole bank may go. There was a very marked instance of this in Kopua at the time of the big flood somo three years ago, when a pipe got blocked, and some 70 feet of water accumulated against a high embankment and bent it outwards. Further ou again, ou the road to Napier, the road was submerged to a still greater extent. Near to the point where the Heretaunga road meets the main street, the road was "about 3 feet deep under water, for a distanco of some tliree hundred yards. Had we gone off the centre, we should have experienced a cold bath, which would not have been pleasant. The long bridge in the "Bush between the Mataiwi aud Ormgi Plains was unhurt, which is satisfactory, as the approach to it at the Woodville end used occasionally to be washed away. As we reached Danevirko it became evident that much less rain had been experienced, until, at Takapau, there seemed to havo been hardly any. All who know the Bush know that we have rain up here whon Hawke's Bay is quite fine. _ The Matamau railway extension is a great boon to tlie travelling public. The worst part of tho drive is now saved, and the cost is considerably lessened. Since this line seems to pay better than others, it is to be hoped that the Government will further oxtend it as soon as possible. This, I must ttdmit, they are doing. The contract that was taken over from Messrs Jay and Haynes is apparently completed, and the permanent way is land up to the Danevirko settlement, and only requires ballasting to be fit for traffic. The advent of the raihvay has caused quite a great change in the settlement of Danevirke, both in tho size ot the township and in the aspect of the place. Tho three chains of clearing along the line now opens up a distinct view of the lahoraito Plains, and the station building at the end form quite an imposing spectacle. Of course to the residents there, Danevirke is Danevirke, if you can understand my meaning. They look upon Woodville, don't you know, as quite a second-rate little hamlet. But we are modest people and would never aspire to any rivalry ot that sort. „ There is one drawback to travellers through these parts—that is, the result of the action of a few men whom the public have duo cause to recollect. It is the want of hotel accommodation. If one rides to Makfitoku to catch some train that does not start from Matamau, there is no dinner to be had there, and the hungry traveller has to come on to his destination, faint and out of sorts, with nothing to reconcile him but periodical benedictions on the Licensing Committees, and this, as you may imagine, is but poor satisfaction to any one. Wo must hope for better things next year, when perhaps the House, if it ever gets to work, will modify a certain Act that has been made use of to an extent to which 1 do not believe its originators ever intended it to be used. _____________