LIKE AN EARTHQUAKE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 57, 9 March 1931, Page 8

LIKE AN EARTHQUAKE.

NITRO-GLYCERINE EXPLODES.

FELT 53 MILES AWAY.

VICTORIAN FACTORY WRECKED,

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

SYDNEY, March 5

An explosion tliat for sheer force and destruction has riot been equalled previously in Australia destroyed the factory of Nobel (Australasia) Proprietary, Ltd., at Deer Park, 11 miles from Melbourne,, on Tuesday. No less than oOOOIb of nitro-, glycerine was exploded when lightning struck that section of the works in which that highly-explosive material was being prepared. Although the shock was felt more than 50 miles away, no one was injured. When the lightning became so vivid, 150 employees were ordered from the factory by the management, who arranged with the police to prevent traffic near the factory until the storm had abated. Suddenly, with a roar that was heard distinctly in Melbourne itself, the "washing-house," in which the nitroglycerine was stored, was blown right out of existence, while the remainder of the factory was damaged so extensively that it will take months to reconstruct. Buildings more than two miles from the factory suffered severely. Windows were shattered, and in some cases weatherboard places were wrecked. Plaster ceilings fell in, pictures were jolted from walls, and anyone standing within miles of the factory was jolted off his feet. At Mornington, 53 m"es away, the effect of the explosion was still so strong that it stopped the Town Hall clock. In the General Post Office, Melbourne, dozens of metal-framed windows were broken, and the noise was so great that workers in offices ran into the streets, thinking that an earthquake had occurred. Children at the Deer Park school were thrown into panic when al' the school' windows were blown in and the glass crashed round them as tliej sat at their studies. The question of cause has not been prospected. If it proves to he lightning, compensation will be limited.