HEAVY FLOODS ON THE WEST COAST.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1710, 13 March 1888, Page 3

HEAVY FLOODS ON THE WEST COAST.

Westport, March 9.

Thin town has been cut off completely from telegraph communication with the outside world since Wednesday night. For three hours on Thursday morning there was a hurst of the heaviest rain ever experienced since the settlement of the town. The greater portion of the borough was flooded, especially the lowlying portions, to a depth of several feet. No great damage was done in town, but much discomfort and inconvenience was caused. The Bullet river is in high flood, and it is found that telegraphic communication is interrupted. The Beeflon coach made an attempt to go for the country yesterday morning, but at one place on the road the horses had to swim, and the cofach was compelled to return to town. A second start was made this morning, the telegraph lineman being a passenger. When five miles out of town the coach stuck in the middle of the road. The driver endeavored to push through on horseback with the mails, but aftor crossing the Bullet river, nine miles from Westport, he found that the road was completely blocked with heavy slips. The whole hillside, on which the road is constructed, appsared to have slipped into the river. Several telegraph poles were down, and the wires entangled, and were covered with debris. The repairs to the telegraph lines are expected to take three days, as the material has to be carried on men’s, backs for five miles. It is feared that one of the large bridges on the road has been carried away, as the decking of a bridge has been seen floating down the river. Altogether very extensive damage has done to the main toad, and the Buller County Council has po foods to repair tbs damages. [The above news was sent by Steamer to Grey mouth for Transmission.] March 10. The telegraph is temporarily repaired. A surface roan named O’Brien has been killed by a slip. March 12. The damage to the main up-country road by' tho storm on Thursday last is so great that it id estimated an expenditure of £SOOO and three months’ work will bo necessary to render it fit for wheel traffic. The County Council is penniless, and will lay the matter immediately before the Government, Gbetmoith, March 12. Heavy rain has fallen during the last few days, but no damage is reported. Eeejton, March 11. A landslip occurred near Boatman’s Township this morning at 7 o’clock, burying a cottage containing father, mother, and eight children. The father and seven children have since been rescued alive, but, the mother and one child, eleven years old, .were both dead when got out. The family are named Cooper, and lived on the.hiliaido above the Welcome Company’* tailings, down near Coghlin’s coal mine. The slip came without warning, and captied the cottage thirty feet before it buried it completely. There was tremendous excitement at Boatman’s all day, and people were working frantically to recover the bodies. Rain fell all day, greatly impeding operations. The affair cast a gloom over ths community..

A telegram to hand yesterday from Waaganni says ; “It has now been raining hard for the last twelve hours, and a flood in the river is feared.”

Members of the Westport Harbor Board have resigned, and the works will now be carried on under Government fuper vision. Captain and Miss Gladstone, nephew and nitce of the Right Hon, W, E, Gladstone, are at present staying at Waiwera.

The flags at Wellington were hoisted half-mast high on Friday out of respect to the memory of the deceased Emperor of Germany. A match for £IOO aside, fight to a finish, has been arranged between Laing and Slavin, to be fought on the 25th April next, at Wanganui. The comet was seen at. Invercargill on Firday morning between three and four o’clock. Its position was E.S.E., about twelve degrees above the horizon, and almost over Yenus. It was very faint. At Christchurch the comet was also seen on the same morning.

Maria Louisa Sorely was charged at Dunedin on Saturday with a number of shop-lifting cases, but the evidence was conclusive only on one charge, on which she was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment. A OroJi Baby. Nothing is 80 conducive to a man’s remaining a bachelor as stopping for one night at the house of a married friend, and being kept awake for five or six hours by the crying of a cross baby. All cross and crying babies need only Dr Soule’s American Hop Bitters to make them well and smiling. Young man, remember this.—Traveller.” Gray, who attempted to commit suicide at Auckland on Saturday is likely to recover. He threatens to repeat the attempt as soon as he is at liberty. Holiowax’s Ointment and Pxlis.— Colds, Coughs, Shortness of Breath. These maladies require early and unremitting attention, for if neglected they often end in asthma, bronchitis, or consumption. The Ointment well rubbed upon the chest and back, penetrating the skin, is absorbed and carried directly to the lungs, whence it expels all impurities. All the blood in the body is perpetually passing through the lungs, and there all noxious particles tending to disease can be quickly, thoroughly, and permanently neutralised, rendered harmless, or ejected from the system. Holloway|s Ointment and Fills perfectly accomplish this purification; and through the blood thus cleansed, the influence of these wonderful medicaments reaches the remotest parts of the human body, and thus cures all diseased action, whether internal or external. “ Don't marry a woman that knows less than you do,” says Ruskin. This is hard on some men.

A Oalifornian’astronomer has discovered a new star, and a syndicate has been formed to stake it out in town lots. “ You don’t mean to say that you understand French I” "Oh, yes, Ido, for when tna and pa speak Fiench at tea I know I’m to Inve a powder.” .Young Lieutenant: “It is a difficult thing to choose a wife. A beautywithout money—my father is unwilling ; a homely girl with money —I am unwilling; a beauty with money —her father is unwilling ; an ugly girl with no money—dtih ! ”