BULK OF DAMAGE DONE TO PRIVATE PROPERTY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15823, 21 January 1915, Page 5

BULK OF DAMAGE DONE TO PRIVATE PROPERTY.

BEMARKABLE ESCAPE OF A WORKINGMAN'S FAMILY.

BOMB CRASHES INTO ROOM, BUT FAILS TO EXPLODE.

(Received January 21, 1 a m.l

London. January 20.

The bulk of the damage done by the bombs at Yarmouth was to private houses. A bomb alighted on an empty house. Another struck a shop and blew off the head of a shoemaker named Smith.

The authorities immediately cut off the electric light and telephones. Police and special constables were despatched in every direction to succour the injured. Fortunately no fires broke out.

The Zeppelin proceeded to Sherringham, where a bomb crashed through the roof of a workingman's house and entered a room where the man and his wife and child were seated. The bomb failed to explode, the fuse having become detached during its descent. After harmlessly dropping another bomb at Beston, the airship reached King's Lynn at 11.15 p.m. from Sandringham. Special constables scoured the streets ordering lights out. Fire brigades followed the lights of the Zeppelin, which frequently darted skyward.

Yarmouth is a. town of 51.000 inhabitants, on the coast of Norfolk, with a small portion in Suffolk. It lies 110 miles northeast of London. The town is situated on a long and narrow peninsula of sand, between the North Sea and the Breydon Water, formed by the Rivers Yarc and YVaveney, and the River Bare. The neighbouring country is very flat. The old town of Great Yarmonth was built chiefly along the east bank of the Yare, but the modern town has extended beyond its ancient walls, of which some remains exist to the seashore, where there are a marine drive and three piers. On the landward, or Suffolk side of the estuary, is the suburb of Southtown, and farther south that of Gorleston. The principal features of Yarmouth are the North and South Quays, and the straight, narrow lanes, called "rows." 145 in number, running at right angles to the quays. These rows were at one time inhabited by the wealthy burgesses, and many of the houses, now tenanted by the poorer classes, have panelled rooms with richly-decorated ceilings. There are military barracks at Southtown and a drill hall. A naval air station has jdso been "established at Yarmouth.

Sherringham is a village of 2500 inhabitants on the Norfolk coast, four miles west of Cromer, and a little over thirty miles north of Yarmouth. Sandringham lies 30 miles east of Sherringham, and three miles from the shore of The Wash. Sandringham House was a country seat of King Edward VTI., acquired by him when Prince of Wales, bv purchase, in 1861 The estate, of some 7000 acres, includes a park of 200 "acres. It contains a model dairy and many comfortable cottaees for the. employees on the estate. King George and the Royal Family spent the past Christmas at Sandringham King's Lynn lies seven and a half miles south of Sandringham, on the estuarv of the Great Ouse, near its outflow into The Wash, and is about ninetv miles north of London. Its inhabitants, who number 20,000, are chiefly engaged in fishing shipbuilding, and the manufacture of agricultural implements. King's Lynn is an ancient town with many fine old buildings. It has ranked high among English seaports from early times. Its two docks are of 6J and 10 acres area respectively.

Terschelling, where three Zeppelins flying west are reported to have been # seen, is an island off the north coast of Holland. Terschellmg would be in the track of airships flying from Heligoland or any of the German ports on the North Sea to the Norfolk coast. The distance from Heligoland to Yarmouth, as the crow flies, is something over 260 miles.

t Only * feW weeks before the outbreak of the war, a new German Zeppelin LZ24, attained a world's record of altitude and duration of flight. She maintained a speed of 47 miles per hour for 34 hours continuously, and rose to a height of 10,250 ft. Her carrying capacity was stated to be *8£ tons, and she was capable of dropping high explosive bombs of a very formidable character the largest weighing about 5001b. " '