AN ALARMING CONVULSION

Marlborough Express, Volume LI, Issue 185, 7 August 1917, Page 5

AN ALARMING CONVULSION

SEVEREST SHOCK SINCE THE'

'FIFTIES

DAMAGE DONE IN COUNTRY

DISTRICTS

MASTERTON, Aug. 6. Residents of Masterton and district wcro thrown into- a state of consternation at. twenty minutes past'three this morning by an alarming -'convulsion of Nature. A deathly stillness in the air was followed by a"loud roar as of distant thunder, then tlie earth' began to oscillate, and in a few seconds a violent motion ensued. Buildings rocked and swayed, furniture .shifted, crockery crashed to the; floois, women and children .screamed' m terror, and a condition akin to panic result/d. Tlu> experience while it lasted resembled .that of a passenger on a hghtly-laden craft in a turbulent sea. For-.nearly half a minute the violent movement continued; then there was a. quivfering, and all was over for the time -fctMng, though a number of minor shocks followed.

This morning people are standing in groups in-the-street inciting their experiene'es and enquiring as to damage done. So far a's can be ascertained, no serious loss had been sustained in the borough. In one shop (•rockery and fancy .goods to the value- of £20 were destroyed; in' a jewellery establishment damage to the^ extent of £10: and in the chemists shops minor losses were sustained. Chimneys r.r_ twisted and.down mall directions, and some brick buildings have been cracked. The experience in the country districts to the east of Masterton was even more alarming than in the town itself. At Te Ore Ore, "Wangehu, Btaeford, Taueru, Tinui, Kahmningi-, •iu! elsewhere, many chimnevs have been razed, and in some ra*_s buildin g« are reported to have bean wrecked and croc-keryware and furniture destroved.

The full extent of the damage will not be. known for some time, but it i*--safe to say that it will run 'into hundreds of pounds, and. possibly thousands of pounds. . Old residents aver that it w.-ks tho most severe convulsion experienced smee the terrible 'earthquake in the nfties.