HOKITIKA'S TRIALS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 256, 8 April 1915, Page 6

HOKITIKA'S TRIALS.

SKA STTLL ENCROACHING.

SERIOUS DAMAfiE WROUGHT

LAST WEEK

Christchurch. April .1

A Christchurch man who spent t\v> or throe weeks at Hokitika, and who \\>~ just returned from the West Coast, ti>M a representative of tho. Press in th" course of n, cliat that the damage bei'ig (lone by the encroachment of the se.i at Hokitika is imieh more, serious than the people of the Dominion realise. Th" heavy weather experienced at the beginning of last week, in conjunction with the spring tides, he said, resulted in to.' sea encroaching and c a portion of Kovell street.

During the previous spell of fine, weather there was an apparent tendency for the beach to make, and there were signs of 'good formation having taken place. The recent heavy seas have, however, swept that formation away, and in addition have taken a further slice oil the sections exposed to the sea. Present indications point to to the encroachment travelling northward, the gre.it danger zone lying between right-of-way and Stafford street. 'I lie possibility of the sea breaking through between these points was very manifest last Thursday and Friday, when heavv seas and spring tides were experienced Several business people lost further nortions of their outbuildings, and chj iifsiia structures were jeopardised.

hotel in flic urea refe"--reJPiUMfftrr the dinner on Good Friday had Tip™ removed from the kitchen langc, tlie portiSn of the building under the range collapsed, precipitating tlie stove, chimney and the hot-water service into the sea, a loud explosion follow-in;;. 1 The business premise? of the Chinese suffered on the same occasion, as did also the residence of Mr. J. Lloyd, who lost a glasshouse. A number of concrete septic tanks six to eight inches thick and four to five feet deep were undermined by the turbulent waves and cracked, and were engulfed. The piles on which Mr. Schroeder's place of business is erected—piles that were driven in the sand about fourteen feec - were exposed for eight to ten feet, the sea having washed off the sand to that depth. Good Friday morning's tide invaded Mr. Schroeder's shop, and for a time it seemed that considerable damage would be done. The opinion of most of the residents of Hokitika regarding the groynes erected by the Public Works Department itthat they have not been erected far enough out. They only extend some .100 feet, and it is contended that *e be of any permanent service tl">y eight to extend from 800 to 1000 feet.'

According to the Christehurch visitor, a certain amount of seeming indifference characterises thp manner in which the residents contemplate the havoc wrought by the sea. For example, on Good F: iday, after the midday tide had spent its fury, the people whose premises were affected set to work in the most philosophical manner to protect their property with sand bags, fascines and heavy timber. Europeans and Chinese worki d side by side placidly, and apparently unconcernedly. Their labors were, However, to a certain extent in vain, as (lie midnight tide rendered null and void much of their efforts.