EXTENT OF THE DAMAGE,

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 11821, 19 November 1901, Page 3

EXTENT OF THE DAMAGE,

THE PANIC SUBSIDING. (Per Press Association.) Christchurch, November. 18.— It fr impossible to give an accurate estimate of the damage done by the earthquake at Cheviot. Every house suffered, some being wrecked. Mi Bellwood, storekeeper, estimates hi: loss at £30.0, Mr Jenkins betweer £800 and £400, Mr Cook over £300, the Cheviot News about £200. , McKenzie's boardinghouse was shifted from its foundations. Brownlee.^ drapery stfcre, Hubbard Hall'? premises; ttn<fr Bbzens qff .other buildings are in. the some condition, but ■'•■ these odmprise the- most important businesses in Mackenzie,.. . the town4 . ship of the district.. The residence.* *-"• of Mr Butt and Dr. Iriglis, two of ' thfi best houses at Cheviot, are-mort or less ruined; j The' stations jiortlof Waiau seem also to 'have suffered. ' ' The damage' at Rutherford's fint homestead is estimated at,, oyer -' 4&2000: . In addition to the damage ..it -hat . done to Mackenzie the -earthquake has ' "played ' some' strange, pranks ' " Writh-the landscape. A road in the * vicinity has subsided four feet int< a creek, and roads all round arc 1 cfackeft-ftttd' fissured* , Townspeople are beginning to re cover from their demoralisation, and '• - to take att interest in their surroundings. Women and children arr still camped in gardens, but some attempt is- being -made' to get the least damaged of the housed into a habitable condition. ,- ' ' "• ,' Yesterday' 'afternoon "outside the post office a service of thanksgiving, conducted, by Anglican and- Presby ••" -T tcrian cler'gyinen"; iwas iheld. ; It" was an impressive _ scene. People ' were ■p gathered") bareheaded: "<in ;/ the opoc - street, •■'and, .surrounded by t^he ruinj x. ..of their -iLomes,- .offered up, thanksgiving t$K the preservation ; of, their Uvesj ' , .. •' „'";. ■ A drive to Port Robinson froir. Mackenzie Just now is onjy> accom- ; plished .under .peculiar,, and "exciting conditions. * On" the Bluff Road the upheaval has been stupendous-. Milli^os of feet otrpek iave been hurled from the' High bluffs above to the road ,be!ow: . The " cjouiity jengineer . , estimates that it will take at year to clear the. road, again. .. ' _ : One cannot cease to marvel at th< wonderful 'escapes , from death whicl. „;-.occurred.on r e,yery .hand- At Goi"C ,< o . JBay . the,re was a remarkatile [ instance „:., in. .an "accommodation, iiouse. Wher. " tfie first shock iook, place, tlie family . were ; at breakfast in the kitcheb, ia lined * room ' with a. tongued and .grooved roof. .The high -'chimney standing . 15ft above ' the roof drashv,,, t ed headlong into" thß room, smash' '„ ing; in the iron, splintering, the lining to matchwood, and filling tht room with galvanise*! iron, broken ■ "boarding, bricks, and mortar'; - and yet no one was killed. ' One lad bad -" bis ankle bruised. ( After a survey, it is even now almost incredible that anyone could have escaped alive from such a death-trap. . Settlers from Waiau report that cratks two feet ,wide have been made in a padjdock, and are full of water. The ' ' river presented a * strange spectacle on Saturday ntorning. As the stiocks progressed, great cracks opened in its bed into which the water poured. Presently tha cracks closed suddenly,' and shot volumes* of water a hundred feet in the air.