LATE GABLES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9305, 19 November 1901, Page 3

LATE GABLES.

Eleotrio Telegra h Copyright United Press Association. SHANGHAI, Nov. 19. { An edict issued by the Dowager eulogises Li Hung Chang, orders the erection i of a memorial arch m his native village, and confers a Marquisate on his eldest son.- • I

house? a wreck, his "Lares and Penates" smashed to kindling wood, and his fortune m many instances suddenly dissipated by "the hand of God" as had fire swept over the village and destroyed it the inhabitants would have been recompensed by their insurances, but earthquakes ,the insurance companies say, are accidents caused by the hand of God, and there is no recovery. Groups of) people met us as we drove m and enquired for news m anxious strained voices. They looked at us with red-rimmed weary eyes. No one had had any sleep since Saturday morning. No one had been m bed, and few hat., had anything to eat. Those that were able had placed their terrified wome 1 m tents where they had tossed and cried all Saturday night over their ruined homes. The others lay mostly m the open air during Saturday, and last night continuous shocks of earthquake had kept their nerves at tension and their ghostly faces told of the calamity that had befallen them, as plainly as their wrecked homes. Very terrible scenes have occurred. On Saturday morning the first shock struck the township -without warning. . It killed a child and injured a number of others. It threw a dead man out of his coffin on to the floor of the room m which the body was resting, it devastated buildings- and threw brick chimneys like match boxes across backyards and garden plots, ifc smashed houses into splinters, it threw a heavy iron safe across a ten-foot office, and it terrified helpless women and children into insensibility. Down near the harbor this herculanean force piled up a great monument. By its Titanic energy it hurled millions of feet, of rock from the high bluffs above? to the road below, burying it forty feet deep m debris and sending the overflow down into the sea. The child killed by the falling wall was the infant son of Mr Charles Johnson. It was asleep m its cot m the sod house of Mr Pateraon, ne"ar McKenzie, and before anything could be done to rescue it, the heavy earthern wall fell with a crash and crushed it to death. There was no place m which to lay the body, and the unfortunate mother was forced to carry her dead infant m her arms until a pitying Church of England clergyman took it from her and laid it m, his church. The corpse of a well-respected doctor was awaiting burial when the shock flung it out of its coffin, and when the panic had subsided it was found face downwards on the floor. Meanwhile his widow, seeking rest, nearly had been struck senseless by a massive falling ornament as she lay on her bed, and had to be rescued by her friends. These are some of the scenes which occurred m McKenzie yesterday. There are others also to recount which would only add unnecessarily to the horror of this recital. • Accidents were numerous, although, happily, few were of a serious nature, and there were several very narrow escapes. Mrs Davidson, of Parnassus road, was struck on the head by a falling brick. The son and daughter of Mr J. S. Young were injured by falling debris. Mrs Heywood, junr., was crushed beneath a falling wall and much, shaken. Mr Kay had several of his children injured by the falling debris, and Mr Fitzpatrick's young family were rescued by their aunt before his house of sundried bricks collapsed. This list is not complete, but tune- and the exigencies of a telegraph service, extemporised by a sleepless operator, by the aid of jam tins and preserve bottle^ fop batteries, demand that I shall not be) lengthened. With one notable exception, the shocks have come from one direction, viz., east to west. The first, was the strongest and did most of the damage, but the place did not stop shaking until this morning, and several of the shocks were violent. People were thrown down suddenly while walking m the streets, and m a number of instances persons were flung from their beds into the middle of the room. "Pandemonium reigned," said one resident to me, "the women shrieked and the children cried." Mr H. M. Whatman, a levelheaded and enterprising man who kept his wits about him, described his sensation to me thus : "The first thing that struck me? was a distinct rumbling sound like a traction engine .approaching- m the distance, then a gentle vibration became noticeable, which rapidly jncraused till every building was oscillating violently. I ran out of the shed m which. I was standing at the time, and was immediately thrown to the ground. I could not regain my feet." This was the experience of others. The relieving telegraphist., Mr S. J. Williams, was another gentleman who kept his wits about him, and he deserves the highest praise for his coolness and intelligence. During this trying time he has kept an accurate record of all the shocks. He improvised an apparatus for communicating with other places when his office was wrecked. He advised the men and comforted the women, and now, after thirty-two hours' incessant labor, without sleep, he isp sending this message through on a jsingle wire to Christchureb* with a prospect of half-a-dozen) hours' steady work still ahead of him. From. Mr Williams I learn that there were no less than. 22 shocks last night alone. One at 2 p.m. yesterday was very severe, and so was another at 7 o'clock m the evening. At 5 a.m. this morning came a shock from a totally different direction, Viz., north to south. It is not easy to understand why this change; m direction should have occurred, but it undoubtedly has been the case. As emphatic evidence of the previous quakes, the McKenzie School may be put m the witness box. It is aTshape'd building, one wing facing the east and west and another north and south. The whole of the desks on the east to west wing were thrown flat on the floor, while those m the other wing remained standing undisturbed. The 1 cupboard and shelves shared the same fate of the prostrate desks. Another evidence of direction is the shifting of the houses from their bases. Those that have been pushed over have all gone towards the setting sun, as if anxious to imitate it m their eclipse 1 . Many houses built on concrete foundations are now standing a foot to the left of) their original position. It is impossible to even- give an estimate of the enormous damage that Nature has caused m this sudden fit of wantonness. Every house has suffered, and some have been utterly wrecked. The post and telegraph, which I inspected first, presented an extraordinary spectacle 1 to-day. The operating room was a wreck. Battery cells and jars lay m U heap where they had been swept by the! smash after Mr Williams. There was nothing m its place. The heavy iron safes lay prostrate on the floor, the shelving and tables had all been upset. Books and papers had not escaped. The postmaster's house attached was m a very similar condition. It seemed as if some great mammoth had picked up the whole building, turned it upside down, shaken it thoroughly, reversed it again, and then put it back somewhere m the vicinity of the spot he had found it m. A heavy wardrobe had been pitched face up on the floor, pictures and ornaments had been pulverised into an unrecognisable mass of glass chippings, and every article m the house, except the flat irons, seemed to have been injured. Pemberthy's hotel is wrecked absolutely. r It is difficult to believe that any convulsion of Nature could so entirely destroy a strong wooden building. Its chimneys were a mass of ruins, its plastered walls are nothing but splintered laths, and the building has been broken into between the upper and lower storeys. The effect is -that the windows of one storey are pointing at an angle of 60 degrees towards the east and the windows of the other at a similar angle towards the west. Mr and Mrs Penberthy had a very narrow escape amid a shower of plaster and bricks, and were very nearly drowned by the bursting of a tank overhead as they made their exit. These arc merely ordinary adventures, however, and not greater than those which befell many oS their neighbors. Scott's hotel is another derelict, and its proprietor a sadeyed boniface seeking instead of imparting kind sympathy after the manner of his kind. Amongst the exciting incidents connected with the destruction of Scott's was the fall of the kitchen chimney. It was an unusually heavy chimney, and it fell with an extra heavy thud right through the back kitchen, smashing the end of it, and generally endangering loss of life and limb. No one, strangely enough, was injured. McTaggart's butchery is another unpicturesque ruin near by. * It was built of brick, and what cbanre had bricks when wood and iron failed? Another iucideut attached to the wrecking of McTaggart's : A baby was left m a perambulator outside for a moment, and on the mother returning she found the perambulator full of chimney bricks and the baby safe. A. C. Billwood, storekeeper and general merchant, estimates his loss at £300. His shop is twisted, his windows are gone, and his stock is mined. J. S. Penkins, draper, estimates his total loss as between £300 and £400, and A. Cook's grocery store has been smashed most unmerci fully. He estimates his damage at over £300." There is also a dairy factory which Mr Cook rents; this is so damaged that all work mast be suspended for at least a week. The presence of mind of the manager

saved (he machinery from absolute destruction. The Cheviot. News office ife literally m state of "pi." The. heavy printers stone', which four men can scarcely lift, was thrown across the room. The press was lifted up bodily and its legs stuck through a forme of type. Everything else m the office is inextricably mixed up, and the owner estimates his loss at £200. - [Other* details of losses are given corresponding with those telegraphed yesterday.] The stations north of the Waiau seem to have suffered equally with the rest of the Cheviot country. The manager's house at Parnassus Station, which was composed partly of sun-dried bricks, has collapsed, and a large quantity of furniture is totally destroyed. The woolshed, which was fitted with machines, and was m full swing, is so much damaged that shearing will have to be postponed indefinitely. The shearers' cook and two other men had a very narrow escape, as they were inside the cook-house at the time the building fell m like a pack of cards, and it was with, difficulty they escaped with their lives. Several other buildings m this estate are totally demolished. The Hawkswood stationhouse, which is an old one, has also been wrecked, and the woolshed has been rendered unworkable. Mendip Hills seem to have felt the shock severely, and Mr Rutherford's fine homestead is badly shaken and otherwise damaged, so much so that Mr Rutherford aud his family have taken up temporary residence m tents on the lawn, fearing disaster should the shocks continue. The woolshed is also nearly destroyed, and shearing is suspended till temporary repairs can be effected. It is estimated that the losses of this one station will exceed £2000. Fernihurst station has also suffered, and the residents have taken up temporary quarters under canvas. A matter of great importance to the ordinary person who has not had his nerves shattered by the earthquake is the state of the baking trade m Cheviot. There will be no bread for a month. Not a bakehouse has been left standing, and .scones are the accepted diet, relieved by potatoes boiled m their jackets. The appearance of the bakeries is to satisfy anyone of the m«gnitude of Saturday's disturbance. There is only one bricklayer m McKenzie, and he is the owner of the local brick-kiln, and has to make as well as lay them. The task before him is one which, without competition, might employ him for the rest of his life, .or procure for him a competency. Residents are not likely to wait' so long, however, and already a number of amateurs, trowel m hand, are hard at work. . The congregation at the thanksgiving service comprised most of the people of the township, and there' were representatives from the surrounding districts. A short and eatnest address was delivered by the Rev. J. F. Snee (Anglican), who pointed out how puny were the greatest efforts of. man . compared with the majestic powers of the Creator. Services were also held m the churches to-night, but a continuance of the earth tremors prevented a large attendance. A drive to Port Robinson from •McKenzie just now is only accomplished under peculiar and exciting conditions. This evening we made the journey,- and were enabled to ascertain the stupendous nature of the upheaval which has wrecked this district. The road is blocked m several places by landslips, m others by subsidences and great cracks. A mile or so from McKenzie, at a spot known by the classical name' of Laundry Creek, the road has sunk m places to a depth of two feet, and cracks have opened from an inch to a foot wide, extending for yards m either direction. It was, of course, impassable. Near Gore Bay there is a great semicircular cliff overlooking the Jed river, along the side of which the road winds. Here landslides have come down, and we were compelled to make m another direction, but it is on what.is known as the Bluff road, the great headland overlooking the sea, and dividing the port from the rest, of the bay, that the most astonishing developments have occurred. Here the engineers have cut a road out of the rotten papa which forms the bluff. The earthquake has taken great crags and bumped them together. It has filled deep chasms with piled rock and debris and trees, and it has buried . the road under such a mountain of earth as it will take months to remove. For a distance of half a mile the jutting peaks have been torn from the towering -cliff and cast headlong down into the sea, incidentally filling the narrow scar man has cut into the bluff -side with a mere handful from the whole mass. A wide, deep chasm running bock inland m one place has m one spot been almost entirely filled with this incalculable pile of rocks and earth. Huge boulders weighing many tons have been pitched lightly out on the beach like children's toys. The whole cliff-side has been taken toll <sf, until the eye grows weary with the confusion, of rocks and debris. Here Nature seems to have made one immense effort to over-awe us with the immensity of her power, and to prove to puny man his feebleness and impotence. No one can look on the work of Saturday morning at Gore Bay and not be impressed. The spectacle must have been a magnificent one, but, unfortunately, no one seems to have been privileged to witness it, although some > waggoners were nearly caught iv another portion of the road. To-night people are again sleeping m the open air, afraid to enter their damaged and dismantled homes. There have been repeated earth tremors to-day, and just at the moment oi wiring this despatch (8.55 p.m.) a severe- shock has just startled everybody, and enhanced the feeling of insecurity. The shake we have just experienced is m itself almost as severe as the original one was felt to be m Christchurch, although not nearly so alarming as some that have been experienced here since Saturday. 9.20 p.m.— Another sharp shock has just struck Cheviot, even more severely than the one twenty minutes ago. Standing on the street, I felt the ground oscillate and heard the rumble follow round the hills.' The sensation was an unpleasant one. People here are m a state of panic, and many women are m a semi-hysterical condition. .No one will sleep inside a building to-night. At 10.55 p.m. there was another shock. Everyone is hoping -that it is the last, but fearing more will follow.