THE DISASTER AT HASTINGS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21255, 9 February 1931, Page 9

THE DISASTER AT HASTINGS.

EARTHQUAKE PSYCHOLOGY. TERRIBLE MENTAL STRAIN. PEOPLE RISE TO OCCASION. MAGNIFICENT SPIRIT OF HELPFULNESS. (Per United Press Association.) HASTINGS, February 8. At least so far as Hastings is concerned one of the greatest difficulties with which the authorities in charge have to contend is the irresponsible circulation of the most disturbing rumours. There is nothing, in the situation here to justify an attitude of mind such as leads to the creation arid spreading of absurd and alarming stories. An absurd story that the whole' population had to be in Dannevirke within 24 hours, and, another that everyone had to be in Trentham by Saturday, are typical examples of the stories that are upsetting women in particular. Other rumours maintained that typhoid had broken out. There is no fear of typhoid in Hastings, nor in Napier. The Hastings borough water supply is in nor-mal-working order wherever connections exist. The' sewers are working perfectly, and as the maintenance of public health is in expert hands, the people have nothing to fear. A SPIRIT OF CALM. Without for a moment understating the degrees of mental shock suffered by the ghastly collapse of the business part of the town, it may be said that the whole of the townspeople, with the sole exception of people previously in a bad nervous state, are not only calm but determined that in spirit, if not -in fact, there shall be business as usual. Nobody moving ■among the residents here to-day will see one sign of jumpiness, haggardness, or dejection. Even the bereaved are hiding their grief under a placed countenance and are carrying on in a universal effort to put the town and its social life Into order once more. The strain during the first three days was almost insupportable to many and to all was, at least, a great trial. A sort of subdued excitement kept the people going. Sleep was not only impossible but unwise. Nobody wanted more of a meal than a cup of hot tea and a snack which one’s state of mind would not allow to be eaten sitting down. There were a thousand things to do. They had to be done quickly, and, somehow, they were done. AFTER THE STORM. To-day everyone has had at least sufficient sleep, meals are being taken in a more normal way, and here and there one hears a resident genially boasting that he had a bath.and sat down to a hot meal. Shaving, once a sign of shame in so far as it provided a dereliction of duty, is now becoming de riguer once more. The eyes are looking clear, and signs of the nervous strain have entirely disappeared. We have, now the adopted task ahead of us as normal. The day’s work from 9 to 5 or from midnight to 6, or whatever hours we have had ordained for us by the authorities, are the hours during which we have to do our little share towards setting things to rights. Looking back upon the happenings ■of that dreadful day when the property and occupations of every man and woman in business were wiped out in a few short moments one rernembers there was not a sign of panic or hysteria anywhere. Tuesday and its emotions, seen from, a distance which gives a truer view and quietly considered after refreshing sleep and hot meals have completely restored one’s mental equilibrium, will forever be remembered with pride by those who witnessed the conduct of the people, particularly the bereaved and the injured, and the way in which the whole town is now carrying on is no less a matter for pride. Mr Stallworthy, speaking to the Press Association this morning, used terms of the highest praise of the way in which the people had borne their trial and of how they had, without a moment’s stay for grief or despqir, set about undoing as much as they could of the harm that had been done. TROUBLE, THE GREAT LEVELLER. From little boys and ‘girls to aged men and women everyone is doing something to help. It has been a great leveller and a great influence in bringing out all that is friendly in man’s nature. Your neighbour’s lawn is yours to camp on and your billy of hot water is his. It is touching beyond all words to live here and see and hear about the wholesale and studiously thoughtful kindness of those who live in other places and were strangers yesterday. Those who are helping may rest assured that their help is wanted and that it is appreciated to the very uttermost. Not an hour passes ip the town without one coming to know some fresh instance of thoughtful kindness or without hearing people who live here speaking with no little touch of tenderness of the kindness that the whole of the Dominion has so promptly and so copiously shown. DAMAGE INESTIMABLE. An attempt made to obtain from those best qualified an estimate of the damage proved futile. Nobody knows or will know for many weeks. It is perfectly certain that it will reach not one or two. but several millions of pounds. One calculation alone —and it but a bagatellegives an astonishing result. In Hastings, strictly within the limits of the borough boundary, the rebuilding of chimneys and repairs to roofs will cost at an absolute minimum £90,000. The rebuilding or repairing of the three freezing works will cost probably £200.000 at least. It would not be in the slightest degree an exaggeration to say that among the business premises the proportion of total destruction either at the time of the earthquake or in the way of future necessity before rebuilding can be gone on with is 90 per cent. SOME SIGNIFICANT FIGURES. The following are a few of the buildin the condition specified, with estimates of their value on a replacement basis: — Grand Hotel, £45.000. Roach’s, Ltd., £25.000. Union Bank, £15,000. National Bank, £25.000. Kosy Theatre, £30,000. Municipal Theatre. £20,000. These are nothing more than instances, and are not quoted as representing the bulk of the town’s loss. In the business premises of entire blocks not a sound wall is left. The outskirts of the borough and the losses at Havelock North will add many thousands to the total. According to the 1930 Year Book, the capital value of the land and improvemerits of Napier is £4,424,000 and of Hastings £3,321.000. The losses of stock in the shops will be enormous, and there is also the indirect loss by the suspension of business to consider; yet Hastings residents speak in gratitude. Their experience was not so disastrous as Napiers. UNWELCOME INTRUDERS. There is one unpleasantness to mar the magnificent story of the conduct of the people here and in towns that are offering them hospitality. The police say that all too large a number of professional rogues is coming into the centres where the refugees are being accommodated and posing as Hastings and Napier residents. It is hoped that steps will be taken to check the activities of these impostors, SHOCKS STILL CONTINUE. The Hastings Tribune, in to-day’s bulletin No 4, says that a continuance of minor shocks i.s the normal result of a big shake, but it is reliably informed that there is no cause for alarm, “ What we must do now,” it says, “ is to hold together, keep steady, and avoid panic; disbelieve rumours; help one another; and ] go ahead to rebuild the town,”

BURIAL OF THE DEAD. The clergy announces that each denomination has a clergyman on duty during the' whole time that those for interment are being despatched from the Mortuary Hospital for burial. Without exception, every one of the deceased has been buried in the church plots pet aside for the different denominations, crosses being erected over every grave and the names of the victims painted on them. The clergy and those in charge of the_ Mortuary Hospital answer to inquiries of relatives. / The body of J. A. Ross, reported missing, has been recovered at the Grand Hotel. GREENMEADOWS SEMINARY. SCENE OF WRECKAGE AND RUIN PRIESTS KILLED AT DEVOTIONS. (Special to Daily Times.) HASTINGS, February 8. The work of demolition has already started upon the remains of the beautiful chapel at the Marist Brothers Seminary at Greenmeadows, where two priests and seven students who were engaged in devotional meditation when the earthquake occurred lost their lives. Nothing remains intact at the seminary, once a picturesque group of buildings overlooking garden terraces and vineyards, and the whole place will have to be rebuilt. The seminary was a training school for brothers. and about 40 students and priests were in the chapel at the time of the shake. The disaster happened on the second day of a retreat, and those in the chape! were having one of the three-hour meditations sot aside for each day. Father Eugene Kimbcll, of Wellington, had finished a lecture a little while before the earthquake, and he had retired to his room in the wooden portion of the building. Father Boyle, the seminary bursar, and Father Gondringer. of Hastings, remained for meditation for the rest of the hour. The story of the occurrence as told today bv Father Kimbell shows that many in the chapel had a remarkable escape. The gables were the first to give way as the result of the shock, and it was the falling masonry from them that struck those who endeavoured to rush to safety. The nine who were killed were flifiig down in the chape] doorway and Hi others were inhired as they ran out. Father Kimbcll states that he was sitting in his room on the first floor when he was' thrown out of his chair and against the windows, which fell out. The interior of the seminary was left a total wreck and to-day it is littered with furniture and the broken remains of sacred objects. A pensioned former matron was in a bed on the first floor of the domestic quarters at the back of the seminary. The walls collapsed around her and she was left in a room with nothing but the floor beneath her. Mrs Susan Orr, an elderly woman, who was in the habit of visiting this woman each day, was killed ns she was leaving the building. The wooden portion of the seminary was moved from Meannec in 1012, and the chapel was built in 1913. The wooden portion had to be moved after the seminary was flooded out at Mcgnnee. The domestic staff’s quarters were built in 1925. and adjoining these is the new part of what was described by Father Kimbell as the nucleus of a real monastery. This was to have been occupied this year, but it will never be used, as the ground floor has gone and it will be only a matter of time before the whole structure fails in. “Hope springs, eternal,” remarked Father Kimbcll, who added that the seminary would bo rebuilt as soon as possible, but this time entirely in wood.

SITUATION AT WAIROA. FALSE STATEMENTS BROADCAST. NORTHUMBERLAND’S FRUITLESS ERRAND. MISTAKE MAY PROVE COSTLY. (Feb United Pbess Association.) GISBORNE, February 8. It cannot be gainsaid that wireless has proved of invaluable help in the present disaster and time of stress, but nevertheless misleading messages act in a cruel manner on relatives and friends in other parts of the Dominion. Apparently as a result of a message over the air on Tuesday, the public , ained the impression that Gisborne had been badly affected by the earthquake. The fact that lines were down between here and Hawke’s Bay deepened that impression, and as a result hundreds of telegrams have poured into Gisborne, and are still being received, the majority from anxious relatives. Even on Saturday a large number of messages was received. It can be again emphasised that ns a result of the heavy earthquake on Tuesday only minor damage wat done to shops, and no one was injured. Another instance of a panicky wireless message, however, may prove very expensive. for it resulted in the big liner Northumberland being ordered to leave 16.000 carcasses of meat rapidly deteriorating at Napier and rush to Wairoa, on Friday morning. The Northumberland. then lying at Napier, was ordered to go to Wairoa to pick up 30,000 or 40.000 carcasses of meat from the Wairoa Freezing Works, which had been damaged by Tuesday’s earthquake. The Wairoa Freezing Works caught fire on Thursday night. Gut that fact was not known at Napier at the time, and when the liner actually left Napier the works were burning. When 20 miles out from Napier the ship was ordered by wireless to come back to Napier, and put aboard the 16,000 carcasses which were rapidly deteriorating as a result of the fire at Port Ahuriri. The liner dropped anchor and commenced the preliminary loading of a few bales of wool which were alongside while the meat was coming oft. Then a message was received from the captain of H.M.S. Dunedin stating that a wireless message had just been received that Wairoa was in a state of !<a nicHouses had gone, sanitation had faded, and assistance was wanted at once, ihe Northumberland was ordered to proceed to Wairoa. All work was immediately stopped, and the liner set out without delay. Considerable anxiety prevailed on board the liner as the vessel was rushing over the uncharted sens and the line was kept going continuously. Two doctors and three medical students were aboard, and on the way across cots were hastily fitted up to accommodate 60 cot cases. When the liner reached Wairoa at 6.30 p.m. she lowered a launch and a party, including Commander Upton, in charge of the Northumberland, two medical men, and the three medical students, carrying a tirist-aid outfit and wireless equipment, tumbled into tile launch. The small craft made a hazardous crossing over the bar and proceeded full speed up the river to the town, noticing on the way up that the freezing works had been burnt. On the wharf a man was standing and hailed them. “ Have you brought the mail? ” he said. “What’s all the trouble?” was the “ There’s nothing much happened hero since the big earthquake on Tuesday,” said the man, “ except that we’ve had a few more shakes since, and the freezing woi ks have been burnt down.” Commander Upton, Dr Rice, of Gisborne, and the other medical men aboard went ashore, and waited on the Mayor, who, after hearing the reason for the

visit, expressed sincere regrets. Commander Upton took the matter very sportingly and expressed pleasure that their visit had been a fruitless one. As it was impossible to recross the bar on account of the tide, the commander wirelessed his officer on the ship, which proceeded back to Napier, and Commander Upton How back there yesterday morning. The same wireless message had been received by other stations, tor at 5.40 p.m. on Friday the chief reporter of the New Zealand Herald arrived by plane from Rotorua. He said that he bad received a message from Auckland to a similar effect to that received by the warship Dunedin. On arrival he was impressed by the magnitude of the earthquake on Tuesday, but finding the lastest report was false left again at 6.30 p.m. Dr H. Colliding Rice, who told a Times reporter of the, Northumberland’s vain quest, suggested that in times of national disaster like the present private wireless sets should be sealed and messages sent only under official authority. It is not known here if the Northumberland arrived in time to save the Port Ahuriri meat, but, if not, the loss will be a serious one. An earthquake shock, the sharpest experienced here since the big earthquake, was experienced at 1.45 p.m. to-day, people rushing out into the street. Ro damage is reported. All churches, here were packed to-day. At Holy THnity Church the Mayor and councillors were present, and in the course of his sermon the Rev. Mr Edmonds said they met to “ return thanks to God for having, as it were, escaped disaster and ruin Gy a hair’s-breadth. FOOD SUPPLIES ADEQUATE. GETTING BACK TO NORMAL. (Feb United Press Association.) WAIROA, February 7. People last evening were surprised at the sudden arrival of aeroplanes and the liner Northumberland with a naval party and wireless equipment. Commander Upton waited on the Mayor and informed him that, as the result of messages received, he had come with a stall of 14 men and two doctors to establish victualling and medical services. The Mayor informed him that, though the town was financially ruined, and the business portion collapsed, the homes were still habitable, the electric light bad been restored, and a modified water service was available. The road exit to the north was normal, but the southern outlet had been blocked for some time. “Our greatest concern now,” he said, “ is the risk of the total collapse of the Wairoa traffic bridge, which carries the water and electric mains. The sanitary service is satisfactory, and food supplies are not unduly scarce.” The people are wonderfully calm, and are getting hack to normal. The restoration of the town is impossible without national financial assistance. There is excellent weather, with warm, moonlight nights that enable the people to sleep out of doors in comfort and safety. RAILWAY TO WAIROA. ONLY MINOR DAMAGE REPORTED. (Per United Press Association.) GISBORNE, February 7. The Public Works engineer at Wairoa reports that there is very little damage to the railway line between there and Napier, the bridges and viaducts being intact There arc reports of damage to the tunnels due to falls of earth at the entrance which may not be serious. TRAFFIC BRIDGE IMPASSABLE. (Per United Press Association.) WAIROA. February 8. Several sharp earthquake shocks were experienced at Wairoa to-day. About 2 p.m. a shock caused further damage to the traffic bridge, which is now impassable, A ferry service is being instituted.

EPICENTRE OF SHOCK. OFFSHORE NORTH OF NAPIER. TREMORS NOW DIMINISHING. (Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, February 7. The seismological records obtained at the Dominion Observatory and elsewhere place the epicentre of' the earthquake to the north of Napier, and off-shore some distance. Readings of after shocks place them as occurring on the fault line running roughly from Hastings to Wairoa. 1 The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research despatched to-day two geologists, Dr Henderson and Dr Marshall, and Mr Ongley. Dr Henderson and Mr Ongley will examine the country to the west of the railway line and northwards of Napier. Dr Marshall will concentrate on shore problems, investigating the harbour and public works difficulties along the coast and inland from Cape Kidnappers northwards. Only four shocks were recorded at Kelburn for the 24 hours till 10 o’clock today, none pronounced. ANXIETY IN BRITAIN. DRAMATIC SCENES IN LONDON. (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph -Copyright.) LONDON, February 7. (Received Feb. 8, at 9 p.m.) There were dramatic scenes at the New Zealand offices when hundreds first learned whether their relatives were safe or dead, bringing a realisation of how close to Britain was this distant tragedy. A little old Cockney woman came to a large room where the casualty list was published, asking about the fate of her ex-soldier son, a London business man learnt of his brother’s safety, a young wife heard of her husband’s death, a New Zealander anxiously scanned the list to discover that his wife and family were safe, and another was anxious to learn of the damage done to a bank. Many fears were dispersed, many flickering hopes were raised, and many doubts were turned to grief, notably for four young Air Force men, who are among the 80 New Zealand-born airmen serving in Britain. They learned the tragic news of families and homes being wiped out. There have been numerous telephone inquiries from Scotland and the Irish Free State regarding the victims.