NAPIER'S YESTERDAYS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 37, 27 February 1937, Page 12

NAPIER'S YESTERDAYS

Charles

Price I

BY

t THAT 1897 PLOOD, XX, The flood which occurred on Good Friday, 1897, is genCrally regarded as having been Napier 's biggest flood. It was cert'afinly the most destructive^ and was much the worst that has ccurre.d in the province as far «as loss of liie is concerued, while the lo,ss of stock and destruction of property was ■very great. The chief feature of the 1897 flood was the suddeness with which the waters rose in and around Napier, and the height to which the waters reached. Although heavy rain had faUen for some 36 hours prior to the breaking of the bank at Boy's Hilh, whieh was the eause of the sudden rush of flood waters across the flats, the rainfall in the baek country was a very grCat deal heavier than in the vicinity of • Hastings and Napier. But both the Tutaekuri .and Ngaruroro rise very quickly when anyching like a heavy raimfaU sets ig. It takes a goo.d deal to stop people at holiday times from gping on a journey if they have previously planned to go. So it was not very surprising on that Good Priday morning to £nd that the express train which leit Napier, was a very lengthy one, and that each car-. riage was fuUy loaded with passengers, notwithstanding that even theu the railway line at the Sale street crossing was under ^water. Munroe street was also under water in places, and-Dickens street, at the Clive Square corner, was covered tp a depth of several inches. I had gone to the station in a cab to see my married sister and her infant ofl on a holiday visit to Wellington, but I walked back, ploughing througlx

the water with indiflerence, as I was already wet to ihe skin, and after 4 eup ox tea at my brPtner-in-law 's, i Went home, and to bed. • I . did . not come >out ■ again uhtil .late afternoon, .when .1 set out to go to, ihe Beerpation. Groqnd i'or. trainlng^ I was quite unaware when I left home that anything out of the ordinary had hap--pened. l had slept from 10.30 to 2 p.m. Goming mto town from my home on the liiil I was surprised to hear a train whistle. This was very unusual, as generally on Good Pridays there is only the express train each way, so I called at the railway station' to learn the cause of the whistling, an.d was told that the morning express was maTooneed at Paki paki but \vas being brought baek to Hastings,, and that a relief tr^in had just been, sent out with boats to reseue some of tlie. Clive settlers, who were marooned in their homes, and also to bring back tfie - passengers by the Napier train which had left in the morning. Had I been ten minutee earlier at the station I should probably have been among the volunteers who went out on that rClie'f train, and might nqt now have been writing these remifiiscences, for none of those who went out -came back'aUve, The Clive settlers who were'fLc/oded out were reseued by other settlers living in the vicinity, and 'were either reinoved temporariiy to the Clive Hotel or to otnar places of safety. The flood reached a higher level in Napier than any I have seen sixi.ee about 1870, for it was quite easy to row a boat along Gariyle street to the cQmmencement pf Clive Square, while in Emerson street aud Diekens street the floo.d waters reached to beyond Dalton street, and in Thackeray street, Munroe street, Owen street, Craven street and Miller street the water was gbout two feet deep,. and the Bccreation Gronnd was covered to the same depth. In many of the houses along Carlyle strdet, Owep street, and in Paaraday street, oppogite the Becrea-

tion Gxound, the" water was 18 inches above the house floor. In writing of this flood some time ago in the Hawke's Bay Herald, I told a humorous story, . which I wfil now xepeat as it may be new to many, and in any case wUl revive old memoriea. On Good Friday afternoqn and evening some of the families flOoded out in the low-lying portions of the town were temporarily removing their families to other' quarters,' owing to "the 'depth of water in their houses. Among thase distressed people was a Mr. George Freeman, -a compositor at the Hawke 's Bay Herald, and at that time living in Owen street. He engaged Mr. David O'Donoghue, waggonette proprietor, to remove his wife. and family with some of their belongings, to a house at the southern end of Hastings street. On returning from this trip abput 10.30 p.m. Dave .was accosted by two ladias sitting on the verandah of a house nearly opposite the Napier Hotel. They asked liim what .so many cabs were doing out at that hour on Goo.d Friday inght, when, usiially there was but little traffic. He explained the plight of the residents in tne lower parts of the iov^n, and how they were being moved to safer places. This was news co the' two elderiy ladiesy in the higli and clry part of the town, and they -deeided to go and investigate, so they •asked the driver to wait a minute while they pnt on their hats (their complexions were already on). The one-horse .waggonettes ln those days were usually called sixpenny cabs, that being the fare up to 8 p.m. for an ordiary jouruey to the Port or on the flat, but after 8 p.m. the fare was 1/- each passenger, after 10 p.m. 1/6, after midnight a minimum of 2/-

each passenger. The ladies did not know of the" fares being -anything above -6dj but when ■ the .cab was proceieding along TL^ekeray -street, ifi .'front of where Dr,- Berry/s consulting yooms now -are, it occurred to one lady to ask the amount of the fare. She ,wa® l-nformed' that - the farq would be 1/- each. ■ 'Oh, but we wpn't pay that," said the lady.' "Yours is a 6d cab, and we won't pay more than 1/-." Davie. politely inforxued them that 2/was* the lowest "price, and that he cpuld justifiably charge '3/-. "Oh, then we will get toixt," said the lady, and stopped tne cab, Bnt the water across the 'street at that spot was rigiit up to ,ths second step; of* the waggonette," and as the lady got on to that atep and looked dubiously-at "the, water lapping the step she.realised that she -would have to give •in, •aad she did fiot wish to do that. There were, "some boys, w.ith gants tucked up. as high .as they co'uld go, who were splashing about on the footpath, jus.t opposite . Glivq Square, and of these, a .short but, thick-set auburn.haired youngster, seeing the, iady 's indecision, rushed up to the cab and eafd, ' f Do yer .want' to get out, ma 'am? I'll 4carry" yer 'to. the foolpath,-' " and fie heid out his .arius tb grasp her. 1 The iady paused a in'om'ent, and then deeided to try the stuxdy littie porter. Bhe stoope.d down so ^that the boy could grasp her, but tb.e stoop was too far, and as the boy's arms were clasped foun.d the lady, the pair fell flop into the water, while the lad's chums, with shrieks of laughter, yelled, ' ' Btick to her, Ginger; dou't let her drown!" The lady, wet thfough, was soon in the cab agaxn, and without inquiring what the fare was to be,- meekly requested the driver to drive her home. As most people know., the railway communication was interrupted for some days after this flood. . Mails, a-nd Hawke's Bay Heralds were ferried across the gap at Waitangi, in a Napier Eowing Club boat xowed by S|d Jago, and Keith Bell, while train passengers were also ferried across, the rower for a time, I fancy, being a'ehap called Mick Ambiose.' It was not only the train service which was for a time dislocated by the flood, but traffic of all kinds in the country was in the same position. The Herald in . those d.ays was dehverqd round the Taradale, Meeanee and GreenmadQWS districts by a lad, Joe Dooney (now a taxi proprietor) "on .horseback. There were many pafts oi the district which Joe had to cover in whieh the flood waters were above the liorse'.s girths, but Joe did not miss a subscribef. This flood, not only in the los.S of life which it occasioned., but in the loss of stock and destruction of property, was wi.despread, the settiers over a very extensive area being aft'eet* ed. In somq cases the loss was _ so great as to practically spell ruinatiofi. to some oi the small, strugglihg settlers. In order to relieve tne distress as much as possible, a flood relief fund was inaugurate.d, and flood relief committees were appointed in the various suburban districts as well as at Napier, where tue main committee was formed, with the Mayor, Mr. G. H. Bwan, as cliairman. After the relief fund had been open for some time, varxous entertaxnments were organxsed in both town -and country for the purpose of furtlier augmenting the fund. ln the meantime tne .v.arxqus country committees set up were gatherxng all possible particulars of losses in tneir district, and receiving applicatxons lor relxef, so that whatever funds were available might be distributed to the settlers who ha.d . sulfered loss on a pro .rata basis. When this work was completedr the district committees xeported to the main xehef comnxxttee and meetings were arranged at which, the Mayor and the treasurer of the fund were present to considr the applications for relief and also to interrogate the applicants, who were xequested to be present on such occasions to give further informatio'n, i± necessary, as to how the anxount of their losses. was made np. At one of these meetings, held at Clive, a rather humorous incident happened. I haxf already reported ,a concert which, thq Mayor ha.d opened in the old Theatre Boyal, in aid of the relief fund, and a ball at the Drill Hall, in aid of the same fund, and had then driven out, with the Mayor and the treasurer of the fund, to Clive, where the local commxltee ^-nd some of the settlers were waiting. The chairman of the Clive committee was Mr. Henry Lawton, who was glightly deaf.

Another member was Mr. Joe Greswell, a solicitor, who lived at Clive. When reading throiigh thq list of applicants foy relief put in by .Clive settlers, Mr, Creswell pointed out that some pf these were in attendance-to answer questions if requixed. Presently one application for the loss of one cow, valued at £10, was read out. "Is this man here?'' said Mr, Swan. " No, " .said Mr. CressweB, in rather a low voiee, ' ' he has just lost his wife, otherwise he' "would be here." Mr. Lawton, who had not heard the question very clearly, but had heard Mr, Cresswell mention "loss," then interposed., "I knew .the old cow; she wasn't mUch loss, any way; he's better. without her. She wasn't worth £10, and I move that we..dgn.'t give hinx £10, but get him another oue.-" The mjstake was too serious to laugh over, but it eertainly caused a smile. Mr. Cresswell explained to Mr, Lawton that they were not diseuesing the value of the cow, but that he had etated as the reason for Mr. 's absence that he had lost his wife. "Oh, I'm sorry," said Mr. Lawton, "She was a fine woxnan, a very fine woman. ' ' **1 think," said Mr. Swan, "that under the circumstances we will take the valuation of his cow as being correct. He will only be paid what we can give him on a pro rata basis, and his more reeent and grcater loss must have our sympathy. " But it will be a long time before the 1897 flood is fprgotten by those who lived in this pait of the world, at the time, "