DISMAL PROPHECIES.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18848, 10 April 1931, Page 2

DISMAL PROPHECIES.

RIDICULOUS AND HARMFUL. TALK OF TIDAL WAVES. It is an amazing fact that whenever a catastrophe overtakes any community bringing death, desolation and sadness in its wake, there will always be found a certain number of persons, who, not content with witnessing the terrible plight in which their fellow-beings have been placed, proceed to conjure up before their minds spectres of even worse catastrophes which they allege are to come (says the ‘‘Napier Telegraph.”) This fact has been borne out in Napier and in fact all over the Dominion since the great upheaval at Napier shocked the whole ■world.

Dismal prophets and prophecies belong to every generation. Mother Shipton, with some ignorance of rhj'me, once declared, “and this world to an end shall come in eighteen hundred and eighty-one,” and it is said that many people, influenced by the doggerel, awaited in misery the fulfilment of a doom that did not eventuate.

Auckland hacl its prophet some years ago who foretold disaster with the same assurance as Mother Shipton. and it is at least remarkable that the prophet's believers selected a volcano on which to camp, ascending Mount Eden and camping there until the specified time had passed uneventfully. Ever since the ’quake Napier has had more than its share of these prophecies, which have fortold all sorts of events which have of course utterly failed to materialise. Other parts of New Zealand have also been inundated by these anything but cheerful prophecies and it was at least not exactly cheering for refugees to be told that the town in which they were taking refuge was to be visited with disaster equal to that of Napier, at a certain time or on a certain day. Naturally the majority took little notice of such talk but there were also those whose nerves, badly shaken by their first experience, were anything but quietened by these forecasts of future calamity. Immediately following the earthquake in Napier there were, of course, numerous prophecies of tidal waves, which were in fact quite generally feared until the earth had settled down to a certain degree. There was one old lady, however, who really took the pfbphecy to heart. She was seated outside her damaged residence somewhere on the flats of Napier a few hours after the ’quake, trying to collect her shattered nerves, when one of these delightfully inconsiderate prophets informed her in a casual way that there was to be a tidal wave. Filled with renewed apprehension the old lady waited not to consider the inauthenticity of this declaration,, but seizing a small bag containing a few of her worldly possessions she set off at top speed down the road as if to run away from the impending disaster. Her goal apparently was the distant hill, but ladies of 70 years of age have their limitations when it comes to sprinting-, and by the time that she had covered about a quarter of the distance she was so exhausted that she was forced to cling to the fence for support. A touch of humour is provided by the fact that on glancing up to see whither her headlong flight had led her, the old lady perceived that she was in Paradise road. It is not known whether the old lady pursued her way to the hills or returned to her home, but the example illustrates the great harm which can be done by such false and utterly unfounded prophecies, for which the originators and those who are responsible for their repetition deserve to be severely censured. Napier has object lessons in other cities which have been laid waste by ’quake and fire and have been built to greater magnificence and grandeur than ever before, and the fact that Napier people are determined that they will do the same is clearly demonstrated by the increasing amount of industry, business and normal activity that is to be noted as each day goes by.