A VIVID STORY

Hokitika Guardian, 12 March 1929, Page 5

A VIVID STORY

A NIGHT OF HORROR. A vivid story of what was descri’ed as “an awful night” was told hv Mr J. L. Spiers, railway porter at Athur’s Pass when lie arrived on the relief train from the Pass at Christchurch on Sunday afternoon. He said that, had most of the people not been attending a social at the time, they would have been struck by falling chimneys as they made their terrified way out of their houses. The apex of the roof of the social hall fell about eighteen inches, and the walls bulged out, with the first and main shake. No one could stand on the floor. The railwaymen and their wives spent the remainder of the night under the shelter of a verandah, the men searching through the ruined houses for bedding and clothes. As dawn was breaking over the scene of desolation the men prepared a community breakfast of sausages and meat over a brazier in the rain. Then at 9.40 a.m. the women struggled over the tangled and fissured railway track for three-quar-ters of a mile to meet the relief train which had come as near the Pass as it dared. Throughout the night the quakes milder than the first one, continued, and there was frequent roaring as rocks and shingle tore down the mountain sides in huge slips. The upheavals of earth did not all subside, and the railway yards were like a seii of waves and fissuers. The lights failed but were restored at about 9 a.m. yesterday. DANCE HALL ROCKED. Mr Spiers said that the station clock at the Pass stopped at 10.52 p.m. on Saturday at the time of the first and biggest quake. It was the heaviest shake felt in the Pass, and the heaviest felt by anyone there at the time. The main shake was continuous for from forty to fifty seconds, then three more shakes of lesser violence occurred at intervals of about two minutes. As luck happened practically everyone at the Pass was at the weekly dance, at which a farewell was given to Mr and Mrs Jack Dunmill. With the first shock there was no warning rumble. The lights went out during a square dance, but there was no panic. Those present were urged to keep their heads, and they called for their children, who were seated on forms round the hall. “The first indication of the shock was the middle of the roof descending about eighteen inches, and the walls bulging out,” continued Mr Speirs. “Then the walls came in again, and the floor went up and down. When matches were • struck some of the people were found lying on the floor. There was no damage done to the hall, and this, I think was due to the very springy floor. “On our way home shocks were still felt, and cracks of from half an inch to six inches wide opened in the road, and we found next morning that these fissures extended through the railway yard and down one side of the line for about two.miles. The motion of. the quake left some of the earth still in waves, and threw the railway line out of action. Where there were cracks the earth subsided leaving the lines in the air. The rails were left in a ziz-zag course, with two bridges about 20ft long impassable. The relief train passed over some of the damaged line, but had to be piloted by a guard on the footplate.

SPENT NIGHT ON VERANDAH. “But to get back to the sequence of the story: On our way home from the social, we decided to stick together. About twenty people, including the children, congregated under the verandah of the house occupied by Mrs Lister, and' there the rest of the awful night was spent. "VVe got into touch with the stationmastcr, MrW. C. Tritl and- the clerk, Mr H. S. M’Culiough, and asked for a relief train to take the women from Arthur’s Pass because of the ’quakes, whicn occuricd about every five minutes throughoutthe night, though they were m>t very severe. The stationmastcr a#d clerk had to wait by tho telephone every half-hour for instructions ijpn Christchurch. T SCENES OF Mr Spiers slate' t >h: of acetylene lamps ' ; ‘ rt - v searched the ho ■%'?• iUi ’ l clothing. They' ■ . V.-mmey down, all cupboards burst. agg broken crockery and groceries -sttenM

the floors. The cold water cylinders were knocked over, and water streamed through the roofs, so much so that the water had to be turned off at the main, thereby depriving the Pass of its supply. At about 2 a.m., two of the ’men built a fire, by which the party warmed themselves, ft was raining at the time, and at fi a.m. a frying-pan was used to cook sausages and meal for the crowd. The special train left Springfield at! 7 a.m. and arrived at Arthur’s Pass at 9.40 a.m. The train, driven by Driver A. Harris, carried Messrs J. M’Nair, District Engineer at Christchurch, and H. C. Lusty, Assistant District Engineer, and S. Currie, Inspector of Permanent Way at Springfield. Messrs’ M’Nair and Lusty had gone from 5 ’ Christchurch by motor-car to Spring- 1 field, whore they joined the relief.; train. At each station the train pick-.., ed tip surfacemen to assist in repair- ' ing tlie line, which was badly buckled . for three-quarters of a mile on the Springfield side of the pass. Gangers between Springfield and Arthur’s Pass were called up at 3 a.m.-,]’, to inspect and patrol the line between those stations, including the sixteen tunnels between Avoca and the Pass. The luggage of the ill-fated peoplw (.if the Pass was taken to the train on jiggers, and thirty-seven people left by ’ f tfie train at 10.50 a.m. At Cass tea and cakes provided by Mesdames YV. Aitken, Douglas and S. Robertson was much appreciated by the tired travellers. Lunch was had at Springfield at 1 p.m. and Christchurch was reached at 2.35 p.m. Air Spiers added that the automatic electrical frame for working the railway points and signals was shifted about two inches out of position. The two brick chimneys in the station building, cable down, one crashing through the skylight. Everything breakable suffered. Electric power poles had a decided lean, though the overhead wires remained more, or less in position. A crack about two inches wide ran from the bottom of the subway to the top.