SURVEY IN MANAWATU

Taranaki Daily News, 7 March 1934, Page 9

SURVEY IN MANAWATU

SOME DAMAGE TO BRIDGES

SHAKE SEVERE AT BUNNYTHORPE.

MAXIMUM RECORD OF INSTRUMENT

By Telegraph—Press Association. Palmerston N., Last Night. A survey of the damage at Palmerston North shows that in the Square business area the most serious harm was caused in Collinson and Son’s, where a brick wall was fractured at the top and crashed through the roof to fall on the counters, leaving a gaping hole. A large quantity of crockery was smashed. In several other business premises the tops of the brick side-walls fell during the height of the movement, the only damage being to some skylights. Pegden’s lost two big plateglass windows, and in other premises glass entrance doors Were broken. Goods in the. shops this morning bore evidence of .the earthquake’s intensity, being littered on the floors. Considerable damage was done to stocks of a fragile nature through breakages. In the Clarendon building an extensive crack appeared over the comer of the frontage. - ’. ’; ■ ’ ’ Hotels suffered heavy losses through bottled stocks being thrown#down and shattered. In a glazier’s shop two,-bins of plateglass were badly damaged. At the hospital a large water tank above the children’s ward overflowed, the water pouring down the staircase. At the Tiritea waterworks the sourc? of the city’s main supply, the main pipe was fractured below the filter house, flooding the cellars. The exact amount of the damage has not yet been ascertained. There was no interruption of the water flow as the supply was conducted through an emergency by 7 pass. As far as residences are concerned, the great majority, as in the case of business premises, escaped unscathed. In the southern part of the city the most damage appears to have been done, some houses having all the chimneys down and others one or two, with, the rest damaged. Reports from country districts show that the ’quake was very severe at Bunnythorpe, where 40 chimneys are down. The hotel-keeper lost 'bottled

liquor stocks valued at £6O. At Ashhurst and Whakarongo, on the Napier road, the damage in the main is confined to dwellings and chimneys, byt at Ashhurst the Masonic Hotel lost all its chimneys. Sanson reports slight damage. The Whirikino bridge across the Manawatu River between Foxton and Levin is stated to have suffered. The Shannon bridge across the same river between Foxton and Shannon was also damaged. Fitzherbert Avenue bridge in the city is in order. A seismograph at the Bunnythorpe sub-station, which had the brickwork shattered and the foundations cracked and was held together by the steel reinforcement, recorded an earthquake, of the first magnitude. The recording instrument was thrown clean off, the chart, swinging to the limit both ways. < ■ Ten other fairly substantial shocks occurred up to 8 this morning, and two have been felt since. The Railway Department reports that the line through the Manawatu . Gorge is out of alignment, but that trains are being sent over at five miles an hour. The bridges are all in order. . More extensive damage is apparent m the Wairarapa, as a relief train with a breakdown gang is coming through here from .Wellington to repair the line. Bridge approaches at Ormondville and Kopua are reported to have subsided slightly, but are being repaired. The Main Trunk and Wanganui lines are reported to be undamaged and trains are running as usual.

CRASH OF MANY CHIMNEYS / VISITATION AT‘EKETAHUNA. TWISTING OF RAILWAY METALS. Eketahuna, March 6. A very severe shake was recorded last night at 11.45 o’clock, with succeeding minor shocks through the night. The damage was fairly extensive, including the municipal buildings, which were ba - ly cracked. The Power Board building partly subsided at the rear. It * estimated that fully 75 per cent., of the chimneys are down and. most o_ the remainder are more or less screwed round. Windows were broken, furniture in houses was displaced and much crockery etc. was broken. Priest’s chemist shop was practically ruined, scarcely a bottle being left on the shelves. The schools have been closed on account of unsafe chimneys. The railway service was interrupted owing to twisted rails between Woodville and Masterton. It is reported that damage occurred to roads in several localities, but no particulars are yet available.