TWO DEATHS

BOTH INVALIDS

PAHIATUA AND GREYTOWN

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) PAHIATUA, This Day. A terrifying earthquake lasting nearly two minutes shortly before midnight was the worst in the district's history. In the business area damage has been done to the .extent of thousands of pounds, and many firms are affected. Chimneys are down all over tho country, and the effect of the earthquake is apparent in hundreds of homes. There were numerous other shakes at intervals. Tho whole district was plunged into darkness through the disruption of the electric power service. Telephone lines are also partly down along cither side of the main street. At the outset, communication north of Pahiatua was cut off, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that outsido news was obtained. There was one tragic occurrence. Andred Pringle, a leading business man, who had been seriously .ill, was making a hurried exit from his residence when he heard a crash and collapsed and died. There is not even one light working. Firms which suffered most were the W.F.C.A., merchants, in the Oxley Buildings; W. Hall Watson, dentist; A. C. Timms, chemist; L. Hartley, draper; E. Badger, stationer; H. Taylor, hairdresser; W. H. Murch, ironmonger; shop owned by Mrs. David Crowe, Yates Co. stores, W. Woodward, chemist; A. Eabinovitz, draper; W. H. Purdic, dentist; Wong Hee, fruiterer; F. Cosford, tobacconist; B. Mills, second-hand dealer; S. Judd, proprietor Mayfair Hall; Tararua Power Board offices; V.! C. Young, fruiterer.