HISTORICAL REVIEW OF HAWKE’S BAY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 184, 5 August 1931, Page 4

HISTORICAL REVIEW OF HAWKE’S BAY.

PUBLICATION INCLUDES GRAPHIC ’QUAKE STORY “ Before and After ” is the title of a publication by the “ Napier Daily Telegraph ’’ Company illustrating the rise of Hawke’s Bay from a pioneering province, and the recent grim history of the earthquake. The book is profusely illustrated with views of Napier and the surrounding districts prior to the disaster of February last, and there are many scenes of the desolation that followed the 'quake.

In dealing with the early history of Napier, reference is made to the barren fern-covered hill which the pioneers saw, and the history of those early days is traversed. There are numerous panoramas of the growing town and also of Hastings. It was an isolated part of New Zealand, at first, and in the steady development that took place during the past half-cfentury, the road, rail and port facilities have had a leading part.

Along the route of the railway after the ’quake the twisted steel rails, on the highways the great fissures and cracks, and on the fringe of the curving bay the changed contour of the foreshore, showed that Hawke’s Bay had been shaken and jarred far beyond the t»oundaries of Napier and Hastings. Where gorges had been spanned, embankment* built cuttings made among l>e towering hills, there was a tale of widespread destruction. The loss of buildings and property and the rescue work of the Navy, the police and others, and of the women who went into the earthquake zone are features thot make a graphic story. The battered township, collapsed bridges and scenes of the ruins may be contrasted with the community camp at Nelson Park, where the people made their first plans for restoration.