CHANGED THEIR MINDS

Taranaki Daily News, 6 February 1931, Page 4

CHANGED THEIR MINDS

CLIVE PEOPLE IN NEW PLYMOUTH. CONDITIONS OF HOME UNKNOWN. But for a sudden change of mind Mr. and Mrs. T. Bishop, Clive, Hawke’s Bay. would have been in the vicinity of Taupo at the time of the earthquake instead of- some miles north of Wanganui on their way to New Plymouth. Clive is about six miles from Napier, on the road to Hastings. On Monday afternoon the Bishops decided to motor to Tauranga. They packed their bedding, provisions and camping material in the car and intended to start at 3.30 a.m. on the morning of the earthquake. But about 11.30 p.m. they decided that, owing to the bad roads, they would go to New Plymouth instead. Thus when the. treqiors occurred they were on a lonely hill about 12 miles to the north of Wanganui., Mr. Bishop had just stopped the car and got out to fix a loose head-lamp. Suddenly the car ran backwards, and then forwards, and then it swayed from side to aide. “The ground seemed to go up and down, trees and telegraph poles swayed and fences moved,” said Mrs. Bishop to ' a reporter. “We knew then there must have been some serious damage somewhere, but we had no idea Where it was.” ' •

In fact, it was not until their arrival at Westown at 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday that they heard that the calamity was in their own district. They were actually followed into the house by a neighbour who had- come to tell the news. “Napier is demolished by the earthquake and half of Hastings is down,” she said. Mr. Bishop’s parents live in Clive and his sister was a nurse in the Napier hospital. Up till Wednesday evefiing they had had no word whether their relatives were safe, or whether their home had been -ruined. Speculating on what might have been, Mrs. Bishop said that had they remained in Hawke’s Bay her husband would probably have been in the vicinity of the Napier post office at the time of the earthquake. Two outside chimneys are attached to the Bishops’ house. During a shake since Christmas one of them . was moved out of alignment several inches from the wall and Mrs. Bishop considered the demolition of this structure is very likely io have taken place She left their dog tied up on the understanding that a neighbour whs to look after it. “We do not know what our home is like to-day,” said Mrs. Bishop.