THE EARTHQUAKE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 31 July 1929, Page 10

THE EARTHQUAKE

COMMENT IN LONDON PAPERS The "Morning Post" of 20th June:— "We arc happy to hear from official sources that the alarming repeals of the earthquake in New Zealand are greatly exaggerated. While there 1 has been .some loss of life, and serious damage besides to railways and houses in the area the catastrophe lins been local, and there is no truth in the report of the destruction of a town of two thousand people. This reassurance will greatly relieve the heart and mind of the British nation, to which New Zealand is peculiarly dear. Although geographically at the. Antipodes, it has always retained the character with which Iho Colony began—-the British Isles of the Pacific, it was peopled largely by the Church of England; but partly also by the Church of. Scotland, and these pioneers, well selected and well affected, have moulded the institutions and inspired the sentiments of succeeding generations, so that the New Zealander remains to-day as staunch and loyal as when the island was first planted with English and Scottish names and towns. It is, indeed, a magnificent example of the suceessi .of colonisation conducted according to plan, and should, inspire modern statesmen to similar efforts in the still undeveloped territories of the British Empire. But our immediate purpose is to express the sympathy of the British public to the sufferers of this disaster, and to reassure the many and dear friends of New Zealand who have been unduly alarmed by exaggerated reports." f!! 1 . 0 " Dai, y Express" of 19th June:— "The earthquake which has devastated New Zealand has been merciful in not piling up a death-roll at all proportionate to its widespread destructiveness. But the blow to the island, while temporary, is severe, and New Zealandcrs—the most liritish in blood and feeling, and wavs of life among all our kinsmen overseas—may be assured that in the motherland the news of their calamity has been received with the profounde'st grief. But just because they are British to the backbone they will stand up to it, they will rftpair the wrecked towns and haniets, they will "carry on." These are the catastrophes that test a people's nerve as well as the administrative capacities of their rulers. On neither head is there the least ground for thinking that New Zealand will fall short."