DAMAGED BY BLAST

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 117, 20 May 1941, Page 6

DAMAGED BY BLAST

NEW ZEALAND HOUSE

ALL FRONT WINDOWS OUT

BUILDING STILL STANDS

(0.C.) LONDON, April 24. Every window "at the front of New Zealand House, looking out on to the Strand, was smashed during a big raid on London in April. Blast caused breakages inside the building and scattered desks, tables, and bookcases, and panels were burst out of doors. There was no structural damage to the building, and none of the fire-watching picket was injured. Soot poured down the chimneys after a terrific explosion in the Strand, and gushed out on to the floors of the offices. Dust was showered everywhere. The staff spent almost the entire following day cleaning up the dirt and debris. The women tied scarves, towels, and handkerchiefs round their heads and became impromptu charwomen for a day, and the men took off their coats and rolled up their sleeves. Six New Zealand naval ratings on leave, who arrived to collect their mail, remained to work all day, and N.Z.E.F. men from the New Zealand Forces Club joined in. By late afternoon, the litter had been cleaned up, and the staff returned to work. Gaping windows and doors and shattered partitions made unusual working companions. RAIN OF INCENDIARIES. The explosion occurred about an h- ur before the raid/ ended, and it was preceded by a rain of about thirty incendiary bombs, most of which fell in the Strand and missed New Zealand House. These fire bombs were quickly put out, and the only two women present, Miss Ruth Heath, secretary . to Mr. R. M. Campbell, Official Secretary to the High Commissioner, together with the caretaker's wife, ' filled sand buckets in the basement while the men rushed them upstairs. After the explosion, all the lights had to be put out as the blast had ripped away the black-out screens and curtains. The fire-watchers made themselves some tea in the basement, and were obliged to wait for the "raiders passed" sirens before taking stock of the damage. Private L. A. Bailey (Okaiawa), who is in charge of the fire-watching picket of six. said: "It was easily the worst night we've had in the Strand- during my six months at this work. As soon as the alarm went I went up to the roof. I could hear planes all the time, and a number of fires sprang up. About midnight flares were dropped, but they were some distance away. Some time later others came down right over the^ Strand. "I woke up the picket—they were in the shelter in the basement —and we went outside and stood chatting to a policeman. Soon we heard a Nazi above, and then about 30 incendiaries fell. Most of them were in the street, and we soon had them out. Then we stood outside again. Pretty soon we had a good indication that something was coming down, and that it was going to be a pretty big one, j "THE THING LANDED." "So we dashed inside, and we'd only just got in when the thing, landed and madeithe biggest row I've ever heard in my life. It got a building on the opposite side of the road. After we'd seen that there were no fires about, there was nothing we could do until the allclear." Another member of the fire picket was Mr. C. A. Bunn, assistant finance officer, who has been sleeping at New Zealand House since his house was bombed and his family evacuated. "The force of the explosion made me reel a bit," he said, "but I managed to keep my feet. I've never seen so much dust in a building before in my life as the cloud that poured all over the place. .It was just like a small dust storm." An amazing sight greeted the staff when they arrived for work. The shutters that screen the great front win- j dows facing the Strand were blown in, and the floors were littered with broken glass, wood splinters, and debris. | Any. thought of work was impossible until the wreckage and dirt had been cleaned away. The entire staff set to work in the greatest good humour, and by late afternoon New Zealand House, though decidedly abnormal in appearance, was tidy once again. Windows open to the Strand brought in the steady rumble of the traffic, and draughts swept the rooms, but this was minor discomfort to the scene opposite. There, the premises of the Halifax Building Society were completely gutted and the equipment in every office was lost. In the words of Mr. W. J. Jordan, the High Commissioner, New Zealand House, like London, is now "scarred but not scared."