’QUAKE’S TRAIL

Hokitika Guardian, 12 June 1930, Page 2

’QUAKE’S TRAIL

SCARRED DULLER HILLS

ROAD THROUGH GORGE

RESTORATION WORK

It is twelve months on Monday next since the Duller district was shaken by the most devastating earthquake in the history of New Zealand. The memory of the public is short, and the disaster of last year lias been very largely forgotten, yet the earthquake area remains the earthquake area still, and every day brings reminders to the residents within its bounds that the subterranean influences are still active. Continually there, rolls along the gorges and gullies the sombre boom of underground rumblings, followed quickly by sharp shocks which set everything swaying. A drive along the Buffer Gorge, which is now possible for motor vehicles for the greater part of its length, will suggest to the observer the incalculable power of the earth* quake which last year wrought such havoc. The narrow valley, surely one of the most beautiful In the world, is walled by great symmetrical heights, clad from river marge to the skyline with magnificent luxurious and native bush. Down between these heights flows the great river, its waters, an opaque green. Into it there fall rivulets and streams, dashing and splashing through the bush, supplying an accompaniment, to the deliciously clear and mellow notes of the tui and the bell bird. Were it not for the roadway which is man-made (and oarflujuiike marred}, and the navvy camps dotted along the gorge, and the lends of workmen busy with shovel and pick, making straight a path for future generations, one could view this unspoiled valley; and think of it as of a. lovely scene in primeval and pro-historic New Zealand. ’ Everywhere in this paradise of beauty one sees the scars and wounds as of the subterranean forces. Throughout the length of the- gorge, about 40 miles, one can scarcely anywhere escape the grim evidences of last year’s devastation. Where the si ides have crushed down the steeps, there are great strips of bare soil or clay, from the summit .to the river, hemmed in everywhere by the bush, silent, beautiful, mysterious. At the Red Jacket slip rocks, boulders, trees, soil, were crashed down in inextricable confusion, burying the old l’pad, which ran beside the river. Now ~ a new road is being built, further up the hillside, cutting right through th© earthquake debris, ahd on that section- about -103 relief workers are engaged. A brief account of what in being done in that section will itidi* cate what is being done everywhere in the earthquake area, which runs from Karamea to Westport, from Westport to Murchison.

AMONG THE WORKERS

Work commenced here shortly before New Year, and the steady stream of relief workers began to flow through the gorge. They came from all parts of the Dominion —nay, from all parts of the Empire, and many from foreign countries. In these camps one will find New Zealanders, Englishmen, Scotsmen, Irishmen, Canadians, Australians, Tasmanians. Turning to foreigners, lie will find Dalmatians and Czecho-S 1 ovakians. “Dalmatian” among the workers here is a generic term, which appears to include all foreigners of Central or Southern Europe. At Newton, four miles from Led Jacket, there is a camp wholly occAipied by Dalmatians, and the Ang-lo-Saxon workers feel hitter at , the presence of foreigners engaged on relief work while so many New Zealanders go idle. Incidents have occurred which make very clear the feelingis entertained hv British workers towards foreigners. For the summer months the men were accommodated in hush tents—tents without floors or fireplaces. The tents were built in. pairs, close together, with a tent-fly stretched between .them, and under its cover a big fireplace that served both tents. There were two men to each tent. For the summer, or for such an ideal summer as was experienced from January to Easter, the accommodation was good enough. Fortunately the Public Works Department has made provision for water, and now the men are housed, in winter quarters, halfhut, half-tent, with wooden floors, stretchers, and a good fireplace for each domicile. With the unlimited supply of fiewood around, these winter quarters can he made quite comfortable. The chief fear entertained by the men has regard to the weather. May has been very wet, and the pay is hound to he very small. As some of the men say, if the weather does not improve it will take a'i their wages to get a clean discharge from the storeman. THE CO-OPERATIVE SYSTEM

The work is carried through almost wholly on, the co-operative contract system. When the work was begun and t’ne contracts let, the men turned to and worked like Trojans. Very satisfactory wages were earned—and they were fully earned, when one thinks of the hours worked and the energy exerted. But once thes 0 contracts were finished and a good track was cut over the great slip, the contract prices were cut down. Now the cry is that at the present prices men cannot earn a wage no matter how hard or how long they work. This complaint seems to ho universal on

the public works, and when the Minister visits these works the matter may be laid before him. After all, these men deserve special consideration in work of this sort. The work is dangerous—anyone who traverses the gorge will admit that. Always there is the danger of being caught iby slips or crashing trees, or bounding boulders hurtling down the steep h i'll sides’. The daily routine is work and sleep, and little else, Every day the men can hear the roar of far-away subterranean movements, followed by ’quakes that may at any time develop into something serious. No sane man would willingly choose Bailor Gorge for the scene of his labour, These workers are driven to it by the urge of sheer necessity. Meantime the work goes on, without halt, and there will soon be laid through the beautiful gorge a flue wide highway, a splendid tribute to ■the' indomitable spirit of man, who has set himself patiently to repair the havoc wrought by the earthquake in a few minutes of heaving destruction.