TERRIFYING ROAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 247, 18 October 1934, Page 8

TERRIFYING ROAR

CLIFF COLLAPSES. HUGE FALL OF EARTH. THREE PEOPLE IN PERIL. Three Hawera residents had a nerveracking experience on Sunday on tlie beach below the Fairfield golf links as they watched the towering cliffs tremble, and with a terrifying roar precipitate hundreds of tons of earth and debris about them, states the " Hawera Star. The party, which consisted of a married couple and a young man, had been fishing all the morning from a rock vantage point in the sea, and with mild weatLer and frequent bites oil their lines there was every promise of an enjoyable day's outing. Suddenly, an ominous rending noise echoed along the seafroilt, and all three were hoi lifted to see the earth over a 100 ft face tremble and move bodily towards them. Slowly at first and then with gathering speed, the cliffside descended in a gigantic slab. Cracks appeared in the slab, and slowly the masn disintegrated and heaved oyer the narrow stretch of beach, becoming darker and larger, and with a mighty splash it entered the sea. It tra-velled in a direct path towards the rock and finally spilled over it and around the party, who each clung desperately to their vantage point for protection. An exploration of the top of the cliff later showed a huge bight in tlie coastline and deep crevasses 10ft to loft from the brink and descending through the strata, to a great depth. It was evident that another section of the cliff was on the "creep." From another angle could be seen a tall pillar of rock 30ft to 40ft high at a point where the earth all around had fallen away. On the top of tlie pillar was a fantistic cap of green turf and in the centre a small tree. Cracks were in evidence along the top of the cliffs to within 100 yds of the recently completed Hawera borough sewer outfall. The- late Mr. John Sturrock, former engineer to the Hawera Borough Council, predicted at one time that the cliffs in the vicinity of the outfall would collapse, but so far the new work does not appear to be threatened, as the cliffs at that point bear a thoroughly consolidated appearance.