In Parlous Plight

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 787, 7 October 1929, Page 1

In Parlous Plight

MARUIA SETTLER’S TRAGIC STORY Inadequate Earthquake Relief COMPLAINTS tliat the Central Relief Committee at Wellington has failed to administer the relief funds fairly and that the Government valuers have not capably carried out their task of assessing the damage are made by Mr. E. A. Nalder, a settler from Maruia, near Murchison, who told a pitiable story when interviewed this morning.

“Not a penny have we received from the relief funds,” said Mr. Nalder. “You people up here subscribed liberally to the fund, and it is only right that you should take an interest in the distribution of the money. Where I come from, Maruia, 18 miles from Murchison, the farms are all either destroyed or unworkable. The settlers are working on the roads when they can, and applications to the Central Committee for relief have been ignored. The committee circularised us asking that we apply for money to renew our outfits, money to buy clothing and other necessities. We did so, and heard no more of it. It seems to me that the money is going in the wrong direction. People in Murchison, many of whom live in rented houses, had a few trinkets broken, for instance. They applied for perhaps £lO and got it, whereas we, losing everything, have nothing.” Mr. Nalder laughed at the suggestion that the refugee settlers should return to their sections. “It is hard enough to get to them, let alone work them,” he continued. , “The course of the Maruia River has altered, and our only bridge is left standing high and dry. The road is buried and, as work on its renewal was suspended before I left the district, I can see no prospect of its being replaced. We have no money, as the earthquake came at a time when most farmers’ bankbalances were negligible. Our stock has been sold at a dead loss in order to get money to carry on, and we are in parlous plight. Even if we could get back to our homes all the goods would have to be packed in over terribly rough country. The ford in the river has been scoured out, and there is only a small boat in which to cross -it.” Dissatisfaction with the work done by the Government valuers was vehemently expressed by Mr. Nalder. He claimed that the damage done to farms in parts of the Maruia Valley had been assessed without the valuers ever crossing the river to set foot on the property. “Some areas they reported undamaged, whereas farms were destroyed and houses untenable,” he added. “My house was reported undamaged though no valuer paid me a visit. The house is shifted from its foundations. The chimneys are all down. The roof is split. The timbers are strained, and the place will certainly require complete rebuilding. It is absolutely untenable as it stands, and mine is by no means the worst case. We are living in tents or huts — wherever we can find shelter. Some of us, myself included, have managed to

rent houses, but it is very difficult to find accommodation.” The results of nearly a quarter of a. centry of toil, as far as Mr. Nalder is concerned, have been wiped out completely, and he is left in a worse position than when he first came to the valley as a pioneer. “The valley has always been a tough proposition,” he said. “Whep I first came to it 23 years ago, there was only a pack track from Murchison, and it was a rough one at that. Through the years we have seen civilisation marching toward us. We have seen the road creep slowly nearer. A bridge was built and- the telephone came through. Just before the ’quake the cream truck stopped at my home for the first time, and things were rosyred. Now we’re down to bedrock again, with conditions worse than when we started 23 years ago. We are older now, and there are families to look after.”