RAIN OF BOULDERS

Taranaki Daily News, 24 February 1931, Page 5

RAIN OF BOULDERS

EARTHQUAKE IN HILLS. DWELLINGS PARTLY WRECKED. Once in the hills north of Napier there is no lack of evidence that the earthquakes have left the country in an exceedingly ’’’istable condition. The ruins of Napier and Hastings reveal only Nature’s conquest over some of man’s handiwork, but every mile of the main road northward, says the special reporter of the New Zealand Herald, discloses the terrible results of the intense forces she sometimes exerts against herself. Huge boulders scattered indiscriminately in the middle of the road indicate the danger that still lurks in the crumpled hills above. Some of these boulders are quite 20 tons in weight. One is not left long to wonder what would be the fate of any motor-car that happened to be caught in their path, for one soon encounters the mangled remains of one hapless car that has been dragged from beneath a boulder that looks the size of a house. Fortunately the driver is known to have escaped after a terrifying experience in dodging a dozen other boulders of equal size which rained upon him. Even wooden houses suffered severely from the shake, but the rain of boulders which, loosened by the long spell of dry weather, coursed down into the valleys, was one of the greatest menaces to life and property. A short distance north of Bay View, Mr. H. Nichol’s house was practically wrecked by boulders. Qne hryje one demolished

the wall of a back bedroom, and penetrated th© partition of a second room. At the time Mr. Nichol was only a few feet away, in the bathroom. Fortunately his children were playing on the river 'flats and out of danger except from the cracks and artesian fountains which appeared around them. . Another miraculous escape was relat- . ed by Mr. R. Church, of Tongio, who, at the age of 73, said the only reason why he was not killed was that his time had not come. He lives alone in a whare at Hie foot of a hill which towers 300 ft. above. At the time of the o-’thquake he was lying on his bunk. The first shock upset a sack of grain across the doorway, and he jumped up to clear it. As he did so the whare received a terrific blow. A half-ton boulder crashed through the wall over his bunk, hurtled across the whare and almost penetrated t 1 e other wall.