PARK ISLAND HOME

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 98, 19 January 1933, Page 22 (Supplement)

PARK ISLAND HOME

What Now Remains . Administered by three hospital :[ boards. of which the Hawke's Bay Ison rd was one, the Parke Island Old . People's Home, before the earthquake, was one of the best appointed and most beautifully situated institutions of its hind in New Zealand. It had accommodation for more than 100 elderly folk of both sexes. To-day the home on the hill across the tints from Napier is no more, those who dwelt there and who survived the disaster being scattered throughout the district. Standing on one of the natural mounds of land which, in-the Hawke’s Bay earthquake, appeared to receive the full brunt of rhe upheaval, the buildings collapsed like houses of cards.Fortunately the loss of life was not as heavv as might have been the case, for the'morning of February 3, 1931, was warm and sunny and the majority of the 86 men and S women at the home were out of doors. Few of those within escaped when the walls collapsed and the roofs of the wards and the dining hall—of every building comprising tire home block—sagged and crumpled. The survivors of the Parke Island disaster were speedily removed, there being no drinking water available in the vicinity of the ruins. Since that time much clearing has been done and the debris is now stacked in heaps. The broken foundations of the home buildings are half hidden in the long grasses and untrimmed shrub growth. A pile of rusting iron bedsteads, bent and broken, are reminders of the tragedy. A huge heap of splintered 'timber still remains to indicate the 'Shattering force of the upheaval When refugees were evacuated from Napier the old people of the Parke [island who remained — [were billeted far and wide and, according to Mr. A. E. Bedford, chairman of the committee of management of the home, were wonderfully well looked after. A number were sent to the Grey town Hospital. Others went as far as the South Island. The majority of those who are not hospital cases have been returned to Napier, where accommodation has been found in private homes. When sufficient money is forthcoming the Parke Island home will be rebuilt in wood at a cost of about £9OOO. ' In the meantime there is a resident engineer at Parke Island who superintends the work of men who, under the No. 5 scheme, are keeping in order 'the excellent vegetable gardens and 'orchards of the home site.