A Big Blast.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 108, 14 April 1883, Page 3

A Big Blast.

We take the following from a contemporary: — -A blast w s fired m tbe Greyraouth harbor wo ks quarry last week with unexpected , results. The rock face is between 90ft: and 100 ft. high, and very bolid. A tunnel was driven m at the foot for some 20ft. and a charge of 30001 bof Dunedin-made powder placed m it. All moveable property m the vicinity was cleared out of the w^y, and the charge was fired. The results were surprising*. It is said the neighbourhood was shaken as by an earthquake, but the rock face was simply lifted up bodily about 15in., and let down again: unhurt. The tunnel acted just as a monster gun, and the chaige as a blank cartridge, the force ot whose discharge mada clean sweep of all before it for a long distance. The railway into the quarry was torn up, the rails twisted into all shapes, and the sleepers, smashed to splinters. Further out, some discharged trucks lay m the line ot fire, and further* still were a small hut and an old boat, and all these blown to smithereens. Telegraph wires overhead were twisted into a cable by flying stones'. The B unner railway, which is considerably sbeltereJ from the qnarrv, suffered a good deal from a rqckjsplintr er, 'and a stone weighing between 2ewt. and 3jwt. was flung half way across tho river. This is the second big blast that has failed m the quarry.