QUAKE AFTERMATH

Hokitika Guardian, 29 June 1929, Page 5

QUAKE AFTERMATH

AT WESTPORT.

i\ 'l'Jj.iNE SVii-iM-tvED. lliy l * .Baa .mouUaUuu.. Yv L..J aa' v>jvi, o line 2c. 'li.e u..y was .i m»y w..c, uu U.w.. -A y lik I-.J11., , ._u .lliu u.UJ p.M. 1.. c iiere is damaged. 1l \.u& t..i liwvl Jig,..!, i/.cj', toiw.o up, Ll,' L#*c .uiiiuao itid. ' liigut. xc nas oeei. removed iruin uie oei.cii to me -Linn cmed, and will t»e dismantled lor L..iiioier to mu-istciiumi ior repairs. VlijUAil.UllO.>, il uile The acting oecretary-General of the Bose umce received information from tne v/hiet Posiinaster at Westport tnai uie aeroplane at WesLport m marge oi Captain Lurrell was uumaged by a cyCioue last ingot and it will now have to oe dismantled, xt is uumg reptacect by a maeiime iiu.ii cnristenureii at the lust opportunity.

AT lijMU' iU-S. SNGAVE ALL YESTER i) A V. REEFTON, June 28. onow lias been laiii'ng all day al Jtediton. me weather is now oitterlj cold. me ’quakes have been less to-day than during tiie past twelve days, and aiso less severe. LATER. A sharp shock of earthquake occurred at G. 45 o’clock here to-night. Jt was of 10 seconds duration. MISSING PROJECTOR. FOUND SLIGHTLY HURT. REEFTON, June 23. A search party found the man, Tim Ryan, who had been missing since the earthquake on June 17, at the Lyell jA' Creek. He was slightly* injured,''and l was unable to get out himself. Mr Ryan was brought to Reefton this afternoon. He was suffering from slight injuries which he had received during the earthquake, but which-it is hoped will not be serious. He was taken on to Berlins to-day. Constable' Ilouston’s party found hitn.

ARCHITECT’S MISSION. TO ’QUAKE AREAS. WELLINGTON, June 28. The New Zealand Institute of Architects some, months ago established a committee to consider the question of the construction of buildings to resist earthquakes. This committee is now to visit the areas affected during the recent earthquake, in company with l)r Adams, Government Seismologist. The party proceed to Nelson to-night. MOTORISTS PROTEST. CHRISTCHURCH, June 28. A protest against the restoring of the roads damaged by the recent earthouake solely out of the Highways Board’s funds, was made by the Executive of the South Island Motor Union to-night. A resolution was carried as follows: “That this Union views with apprehension the suggestion that the roads destroyed by or damaged should be reinstated exelusivev out of the funds \ of the Main Highways Board. This corl f erenee considers that, as the calamity was a national one, the renaration should be paid for out of the Consolidated Fund, with a reasonable contribution from the Main Highways Board.”

SIR WM. BIRD WOOD. CABLES HIS SYMPATHY. WELLINGTON. June 28. . The Governor-General has received fbn followin''' message from FieH / Marshal, Sir Wm, Birdwood, Comman-der-in-Chief of the Military Forces i" fat India : “T have been greatly distressed to hear of the severe earthouake. recently experineed in the South Island I shall l>e grateful if you will express pi” deep svnmnthv to all ocncerned. — Birdwood, Field Marshal. MURCHISON P. AND T. SERVICE. WELLINGTON, June 28. Although the Murchison Post and Telegraph staff vacated the office there yesterdav. arrangements have since be on made to continue the offce 'for tb« benefit of the people remaining at Murchison.

FURTHER EXPERIENCES —_n — MORE SHOCKS AT WESTPORT r—» MISSING MAN FOUND o GALE DAMAGES AEROPLANE

RELIEF SCHEME

„ EXTRA 1. COMMITTEE 10 MAKE THE GRANTS. WELLINGTON, June 28. Arrangements lor disiriimting relic'i n Uie earthquake areas were consulted to-day at a meeting of the central organisation controlling the relief funds. The Prime Minister, lit. Hon. Sir Joseph Ward, presided, in addition to the heads of various Government departments, there were also present: The Mayor of Wellington, the Leader of the Opposition, -vxr J. G. Coates, the Minister of Education, Mr Atmore, Mr H. E. Holland, M.P. for Buller, and Mr Jas. O’Brien, M.P. for Westland. The Prime Minister stated subsequently that it was resolved that theie should be one central organisation, with executive powers, and that the Mayors of the four mam centres should Oe members. The Members of Parliament from the districts affected by the earthquake would also lie on the committee, as well as the Public trustee, the Controller and Auditor-General, the Under-Secretary for Public W orks, and the Under-Secretary lor Lands. vbir Joseph said that apart from the Central Organisation, there would be district committee in each of the electorates where the earthquake occurred. These District Committees would receive. all the local applications for relief or for the restoration of buildings damaged by the earthquake, and they would lie charged with the duty of investigating each case and iorwaidmg applications to the Central Committee in Wellington. Only the Central Committee would have the power to make financial contributions 'for the relief of distressed persons and necessitous cases. Grants would only be made to those who were unable to help themselves.

Sir Joseph said that moneys would be remitted from the Central Fund at Wellington to the Local Committees as required.

Sir Joseph Ward also stated that it had been decided that some of the refugees would be employed in restoring the damaged buildings.

Mr Thompson, oi me Public Works Department, had been appointed Secretary and Treasurer to tho Committee.

DESTROYED HOUSES. n MRO’ HR I EX’S R EQUEST. WELLINGTON, June 28. Mr Jas. O’Brien, member for Westanil, asked the Minister of Finance today if lie would make provision for the house-owners whoso houses were destroyed in the recent earthquake, and who do not wish for assistance from the Relief Committees, to borrow such money from the Slate Advances Department as will put their houses in repair, provided that there are the lieces.,„iy valuations made. VARIOUS FUNDS. AUCKLAND, June 28. The donations m Auckland toward the earthquake relief fund now total over £11,530. The “New Zealand Herald’s” list stands at £5,957; the Mayor’s l list at £3,905; the Auckland “Star” list at £1,439; and various suburban borough lists total £2(58.

DUNEDIN, June 28. The total collected in Dunedin on behalf of the earthquake fund up to this evening amounts to £3,850. AUCKLAND, June 28. The record price of £OS was obtained for three bunches of celery sold for the earthquake relief fund at a “ mock auction ” to-day. A REFUGEE’S STORY. HAVOC AT MURCHISON. “You can’t exaggerate the reports from the area,” said Mr A. U. Man- | >v, one of the refugees from the Maruia Valley. “My home is in Murchison, and 1 was on my way there on Monday when T heard a noise like the engine of a lorry gradiinally increasing in volume until it became deafening. I was riding a bicycle and was thrown on to the road, f can’t, describe the sensation. It was something frightful. The ground

heaved, and in the. distance I saw Eight-Mile Hill rock, and the topmost part, 500 foot, topple over like the crest of a wave. The whole country shivered. Huge crevices made their appearance in the roads and in the fields. Ono fissure measured as much as: eight feet across. Photographs can give you little, idea of the general devastation. 1 was paralysed. I think anyone would he if they found the road giving beneath them and boulders flying down the cliffs alongside. Blips came down two miles long in places, in some cases as deep as 40 fee. The power-house is wrecked, tho transformers arc all down, and the watcimains are burst. Houses ar« twisted, the furniture smashed and properties and buildings destroyed.

‘‘Beyond Murchison tile slips have dammed up the river and created a chain of lakes. One farm-house is all but s u Inner trod. Only the roof can lit? seen above the water. “There will never he a road in the Buller Gorge for years.” affirmed' Mr Mnnlov. “and T doubt if even- the Manila Valley will ever lie inhabited again. If they can manage to get the stock o"t. that will lie all. “Defiles in the affected area are filled in, and hillsides .shattered. The houses are wrecked, and there is not a chimney nor a window left. I wont into the home of the County Clerk, Mr Fraser, and that was enough for me. It looked as if a mob of wild bullocks had been let loose. O’Rourke’s Hill lias been on the move ever since the first shake. Some say that they see a difference every hour, that it is encroaching on the Maruia River. I am pleased to see the last of it for a while.” EXPERIENCES OF LYELL FAMILY. Mr M. Pii’ricli said that he and his wife and children lived at Lyell. “There is a lot of burnt bush round our house,” he said, ‘.‘and when we had the first ’quake on Monday morning the trees fell in thousands as if a huge mowing machine was at work. “‘.lt all came in a flash,” Mr Pupieli added. “Luckily the house itself was built in n clearing in case of a bush fire, and this is all that saved ns. Everything movable in the house nas thrown about and shattered. Even the paper on the walls was torn to pieces. One could swear from its amnearanee that a charge of dynamite had been exploded in the range. It was twisted and broken into a hundred pieces. Wo were living in the Buller Gorge, so that we were right in the thick of it. 1 have tried 1o describe the happenings hut l can’t convey to you a true idea of fhe horror of it. It was as if charges of dynamite were going off every few minutes just under the ground. The ground heaved and rocked under our feet. We could not walk. The shakes were severe and continued intermittently throughout the week. At Groymouth on Wednesday night wo had throe distinct shocks but they did not startle us. Sonic people were alarmed, blit they were merely lops to what we had been experiencing at Matakitaki.

“After the ’quakes In our locality black sand and mica were to ho seen all along the river beds and along the streams. A LONELY SPOT. The Matakitaki Valley, which bore the brunt of the earthquake, is one of the loneliest spots in New Zealand. It is one of several valleys that radiate from Murchison, and the extent of its isolation ism he gauged by the fact that several of the refugees who arrived in Christchurch on Thursday had never seen a railway train before—which, of course, means that they had never seen a town of any si/je. The apparel of some of the women also is an indication that the fashions of the modern flapper and even of the modern, matron have not yet penetrated their isolated corner of the world. SLUICING FOR GOLD.

Mr Borkovski, a young Russian, with his father and another brother, have a sluicing claim in the Matakitaki. Young Borkovski was playing a huge hose on the face of a cliff when the big shock came. He dropped it and rushed into the open, only to see the cliff fall down where he hail been standing. What happened after that lie cannot remember too dearly, but bo knows that that was the last lie saw of the sluicing claim. “Wo will soon "be going back,” lie said last night. “There may be « whole lot more gold uncovered, who knows?” His younger brother came out and went with the refugees to Nelson.