EXPLOSION WRECKS SHOP .IN ONEHUNGA

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 222, 13 May 1932, Page 5

EXPLOSION WRECKS SHOP .IN ONEHUNGA

(Press. Assn.-

five injured entire front blown out with terrific force LEAKING GAS IGNITED

— By Telegiaph — Copyright),

AUCKLAND, Thursday, With a noise lifee the hursting of a high explosive shell, aiid With almosf as much subsequeftt daihage, a gas explosion ocOui--red iri a livirtg roofti hehiiid a shop in Goiirt's Biiilding, Qiieeii Street, Onehunga, at about 2 o'clock this afternodn. The huilding was, a two storey structure of brick and concrete and it was almost completely wrecked, Five people were injured, fortunately none seriously. They are: Claude Harrison (57), proprietor of the confectioner's shop where the explosion occurred, fractured arm and cut& on face; John Slipper (32), burns to right hand and face ; Doreen Catchpole (12) fractured leg; Mrs Harirson, wife of the shopkeeper, injuries to right arm and leg; Mrs. Catchpole, mother of Doreen Catchpole, badly sprained ankle. The wreckage caused by the explosion made it seem almost miraculous that no one was gravely injured. A nearby shopkeeper stated that the roar of the explosion was indescribable. The entire front of Harrison's' shop*was blown out. The living room, where the explosion actually occurred, was just a mass of jagged timber. The gas stove was thrown across the kitchenette behind the living room. There were ominous bulges in the brick walls of the buildlng and craeks in the concrete walls at the rear. Another shop in Court's Building, occupied by E. Hardgrave, a hairdresser and tobacconist, had a plate glass window blown out, and in an adjoining building, a tailor's shop, kept by J. Lomas, two plate glass windows were cracked. So great was the force of the explosion that on the other side of the street plate glass windows in three shops were smashed hy the coiicusSion. A large open touring car, which was parked on the road outside the shop, was badly damag-ed by the force of the explosion and by flying glass.