AN ALARMING EXPERIENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3034, 8 May 1912, Page 7

AN ALARMING EXPERIENCE.

DESTRUCTION BY LIGHTNING.

AUCKLAND, May 2. A flash of lightning, followed by a very heavy peal of thunder, was experienced in Clevedon on Tuesday night at the locaJ post office The telephone instrument was struck, the wire- fused, and the box with its contents smashed to atoms and hurled; across the room, striking a wall on the opposite sido and falling into a chair. T.h© wail was blackened and holes were burned in the telegraph forms. Mr Robertson, storekeeper, was standing beside his instrument when he was startled by a flash some feet long corning from the mouth of the receiver and followed by a report like a pistol-shot, sufficiently kxid to alarm the neighbours. A tall pine on Mr George Alexander's property near the- road was struck and split in pieces. Another tall pine tree near the Clevedon wharf was struck and stripped of its branches and bark. One of the large telegraph poles was also struck, and the wires were broken and fused, while the post was broken down. Trees were blazing, but a heavy downpour of rain which immediately followed the clap extinguished the flames speedily. Strange to say, the main telephone frorr Clevedon to Papakura was untouched.