RUINED HOMES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 April 1938, Page 8

RUINED HOMES

DAMAGE AT ADMIRALTY BAY. GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE NEEDED. By Telegraph.—Press Association, NELSON, This Day. Mr H. Atmore, M.P., who is accompanied by a Public Works Department engineer, is making an inspection of ruined homes on the narrow strip of country running across Admiralty Bay into Pelorous Sound. Mr Atmore says previous reports were far from exaggerating the extent of the damage which was, if anything, underestimated, and it is obvious that Government assistance will be needed if the homes affected are to be replaced, so that settlers may be restored to their former productive capacity. At St. Kilda, the homestead of the late Mr Robert King Turner, it is estimated that from 15,000 to 20,000 tons of boulders came rushing down on to the small residential area. Sheep pens, for instance, are covered to a depth of five feet. The house and sheds are badly smashed and the orchard is covered over. The new residence is badly distorted. Mr Atmore says that if the cloudburst had fallen late at night, instead of in the early evening, the inmates could not possibly have escaped with their lives.