YESTERDAY'S 'QUAKE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17227, 5 April 1930, Page 3

YESTERDAY'S 'QUAKE

EXPERIENCE IN SCHOOLS CHILDREN BEHAVE WELL Although yesterday's earthquake was the worst experienced in Gisborne for a number of years, apparently it was the length of timo it occupied that caused tne greatest alarm. Shopkeepers found some of their stocks tottering on the shelves, with, the topmost goods threatening to come clattering down. A number of people became alarmed for u short period, but it was not long before the excitement wore off.

The auctioneers and public who attended the Matawhero stock sale yesterday had an unusual experience. The concreted yards began to heave, below them, and telegraph and electric power wires were seen to be swaying) in a- remarkable manner. "Wo had a good shake up." commented one of the auctioneers, "but it did not shake up the prices."

A little excitement was caused in some of the schools, but the discipline everywhere was reported lo be splendid. In the classroms in the upper story of the Gisborne Central 'School, a brick building, one of the girls became a little uneasy, and the teachers in_ charge found' if. expedient ioi file the girls outside, while the hoys, treating the whole, affair as a most' interesting diversion from their lessons, looked oil in amusement. The younger children were apparently 100 young to appreciate the significance of the disturbance, and they were permitted to remain indoors. The teaching staff handled the situation in a. very cool and capable manner. The* Mangapapa school staff accepted the shake, as an opportunity to test the efficiency of the lire drill that has been practiced there for some time. The previous practice was a week before, and when the signal was given on the commencement of the heaviest portion of the tremor the children (tied out at the double in a most orderly manner, the. whole school being] emptied iu 10 seconds. Some of the elder children in the infant department, housed in the new brick buildingl, became alarmed, and a few were so upset thai they had to be seal home.

Nothing serious appears to have happened at the other schools, although in one of the classrooms a lady teacher was thrown from her balance, and prevented a. fall by clinging to the blackboard. Clocks stopped iu some of the classrooms.