A NASTY WEEK-END

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 144, 21 June 1922, Page 7

A NASTY WEEK-END

SCORES OF SHOCKS ON SUNDAY!

RESIDENTS OPTIMISTIC,

(it TiLiuApa.—ipicui io tii roir.)

AUCKLAND, This Day.

"We had some heavy shakes last

night, but I do not think our experience was\s bad as teat Oruanui or 'Wairakei," said "Mr. H, 0. Barker, post--master at Taupo, in describing the earthquakes. "There is a fair amount of nervousness among the residents, but generally .they are optimistic, and although they do not like earthquakes they, are not going to clear out." ■ Mr. Barker said darkness made the, experience much worse. There was an incessant boQining, and then would come a "thud," which seemed to be just out. side. It was like a thump under a. seat.; The noise was like a large cauldron bubbling, and, in fact, resembeled very much, the noise made by the cauldron at Whakarewarewa jusfc before Pohutu. playpd. N The movement of the earthquakes,. Mr.j Barker said, was from north to south, and the centre of disturbances was be- ■ tween Waii'akei and Orualiui. ".To prove this, I may say I was talking to Wairakei and Oruanui at the same time. Oruanui would say, "Here is one coming now,' Wairakei would then say, 'Here it is, I have got it.' Then, about two seconds later, I would feel it." Mr. Barker sai<J that Wairakei andi Oruanui felt several shocks that he did not feel. In five hours on Sunday, from 5 o'clock, when he started to count earthquakes, until 10 o'clock, there were 28 ' shocks, which he classed as "fairly -5 severe" and "severe." In addition there were countless minor shakes. On Sunday Mr. Barker^ paid a visit irt a launch to the western side of the lake. At Whakaipo he observed slips on the cliffs bordering the lake, but the clay is bo loose there that even a slight shake would bring some of it down. "iHowever, a settler in the locality informed him that at a place along Whakaipo Bay, where the beach 'is now only a couple of feet wide, it used to be, about a chain wide. The settler said it appeared to him that the earth had sunk. The same man told Mr. Barker that further round, on another beach, there was a hole show* ■ ing a clear blow out. HURBIED EXIT OF VISITORS. An account of his experiences was given 'by Mr. W. Anderson, proprietor of "The Bungalow," at Taupo. "It was the roughest time we have had," he said, "and the earthquakes were heavier than any we h^d felt previously. I counted seven in ten minutes; in fact, tfiey never stopped." •■ Mr. Anderson said that Saturday was a very quiet day, with hardly any carte- ■ quakes, and. it was the first time for five or six weeks that they had a peaceful N night. It was, however, as events turned out, only "the calm before the storm. The only people .to leave Taupo in a hurry were seven men who had arrived from Rotorua by motor-car only. that evening, on their way to races in 'Hawkes Bay. They went to bed at their , boardinghouse, but when the earthquakes increased in severity they decided it wa» no place for them and they resumed their journey to Napier. A" SCIENTIST'S COMMENT S The volcanic and thermal region! of Kotorua and Taupo district* were for, , years closely studied By Profeeor A. P., W. Thomas, who made exhaustive ob< servations shortly after the Tarwrer* eruption. Interviewed yesterday on tHe subject of the present earth movements at Taupo, he eaid it would be extremely difficult, in view of the poverty of the scientific equipment on the spot for adequate observations, to venture a definilfl opinion or forecast the ultimate results One thing, however, was certain—never in the- history of earthquakes in New/ Zealand had there been so prolonged a period of continuous tremors—for the present shocks at Taupo were more in ; the nature of earth tremors than violent earthquakes. Whether this was a favourable sign or otherwise it was also . impossible to say, though it should.be comforting1 to the inhabitants of the disturbed area to know that in many o! the big outbursts there had been few or no premonitory^symptoma > in the shape of earth shocks. ' When the Tarawer? x eruption occurred, fsaid Professoi \ Thomas,'there were practically no premonitory earthquake shocks. The first shock that might be connected with it took place only an hour, before tht eruption was in full blast;. On the othei hand, it was qnite usual in other vol. canic districts for' these earthquake tremors to precede an eruption,. increas-"" ing in Nintensity as the moment of eruption? approached. In the case of Taraj wera, however, the contrary »ras ob. served. So far as our experience in New Zealand went at present, shakes do noi come as a prelude to more violent earth' quakes. ........