DAMAGE TO ROADS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20046, 19 September 1939, Page 2

DAMAGE TO ROADS

TARANAKI ALLEGATIONS

OIL COMPANIES’ .WORK People in. Central Taranaki are stated to have been alarmed recently by the operations of a petroleum survey party, and according to statements made at a meeting of the Stratford County Council, damage lias been done to roads within the county as a result of the use of explosives in exploratory work. According to one ocuncillor, the ground “jumped about a foot” (-very time explosives were used. <5 When the subsidence of a road over a culvert in Brooks road, Stratford, was being discussed, Cr. P,. Ilutchen stated that, the oil company was workin;' in the vicinity and that the subsidence was hastened at least by explosions in the neighbourhood. The explosives used to ascertain the earth structure with the aid of a seismograph shook the whole countryside, it was staled.

Another councillor said he was working in a shed some distance from the scene of operations and “everything was shaken.” The ground, lie declared, “jumped about a foot.” As a result of the explosions sections of the roads in some cases had cracked. In another case it was stated that the concrete base of a pigsty was cracked when an explosion occurred in the vicinity. It was also alleged that people milking two miles away from the locality where the party was working felt a shock and thought it was on earthquake.