HAIL OF ROCKS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 70, 19 September 1936, Page 10

HAIL OF ROCKS

COTTAGE WRECKED QUARRY EXPLOSION UNEXPECTED RESULTS I (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, September 18. A smalj crowd of spectators at Smeed's quarry on the edge of the Waikato River, above Tuakau, who had assembled to witness the firing of a two-ton charge of gelignite this afternoon, saw a far more spectacular sight tha"n they expected. The charge "blew out," and in addition to the fall of a large expanse of rock cliff, a considerable quantity of rock' was hurled through the .air as if fired from a gigantic gun. . A threeroomed cbttage, the home of one of the quarry workmen, which was situated about 200 yards from the cliff face, collapsed beneath the terrific bombardment of rock. The quarry workshops, standing a little further back, were damaged extensively, a shed in front being completely wrecked. A big building housing a valuable crushing plant was pierced by falling rock, numerous gaping holes being torn in the roof and walls, which are of corrugated iron. A motor-truck parked near the workshops suffered to the extent that it looked as if someone had attempted to demolish it with a sledge-hammer. Water spurted from a storage tank so riddled with holes as to resemble a sieve. '

Luckily all persons present were well away from the danger zone. A number of hens which were scratching about in front of the cottage prior to the explosion were not' so fortunate. Out of about 20 only two survived, many being completely buried, while the mangled remains of others were strewn in all directions.

The damage suffered by the company's plant was ,not so great as at first appeared probable. A valuable electric motor was unharmed and other machinery also escaped serious damage. The workman's cottage, however, was reduced to matchwood, and the furniture, crockery, and clothing formed a tangled mass of wreckage-. Of the contents, which were not insured, very little was salvaged in an undamaged condition.-