From the MTG: Ten men perish during rescue effort
7 May, 2021 06:00 PM
4 minutes to read
Waitangi Railway Bridge after the 1897 flood. Photo / Supplied
Hawkes Bay Today
By: Gail Pope
Overshadowed by the Scenic Hotel Te Pania on Napier s Marine Parade, is a statuesque yet forlorn monument erected to commemorate the April 16, 1897 flood.
Etched deeply into two of the marble plaques are the words: Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.
On the opposite side are the words: This monument was erected by the people of Napier to commemorate a deed of heroism by which 10 men lost their lives on Good Friday 16 April 1897 in attempting to rescue the flooded out settlers of Clive .
Margaret Gordon, a Melbourne-based Kiwi who works as a video producer for The Age, offers a snapshot of her two weeks in managed isolation at an Auckland hotel. The new Hotel Council Aotearoa, representing about half the country s 330-plus hotels, says many have barely survived summer. January should have been their busiest month with occupancies around 90 per cent, said strategic director James Doolan. Instead, with a few days of January remaining, most had only 40 to 60 per cent of their rooms occupied, and had been forced to slash about 20 per cent from their room tariffs to fill even those. That meant their overall room revenue was down about 50 per cent, but they still had to pay property-related costs like rents, rates, insurance, electricity and servicing debt.