SLIDING LAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 108, 28 July 1927, Page 11

SLIDING LAND

House Being Torn in Halves Destruction Wrought at Herne Bay ATTEMPTS are being made to anchor the house in Sentinel Road, Herne Bay, which is being gradually torn in halves by a landslide.

TOURING the night the land slipped another two or three inches, and it is feared that at any moment an avalanche may hurl the house or half of it on to the beach below. The house, a ten-roomed two-storey dwelling, valued at .£4,000.. is situated at the lower end of Sentinel Road, and its grounds run down to the beach by the side of the steps recently constructed by the City Council. A curved crack across the end of Sentinel Road warned the owner of the house, Mr. J. Billington, that the land was sinking. Yesterday the fissure widened to about eight inches and spread underneath the house, cracking the brick foundations. OCCUPANTS LEAVE When the house developed a severe kink in its middle and the window and door frames were pushed out of shape, the position was so serious that the occupants took out the furniture and left the place. Creaking and groaning showed that the clay was still Subsiding. The worst part of the sinkage seems to be around the storm-water trap on the road, the surface having sunk about two feet. Anxious neighbours have so far no cause for alarm, though the asphalt

paths of Mr. Billington's place are cracked and torn, the grounds of the next door house, owned by Mr. A. Gifford. are clear. The crack does not go beyond the hedge on the left side of the road, but Mr. Y. Masefield has had a small slip on his own point. He says that it was caused by boys undermining the bank. About 10 tons of clay fell down on the beach, but the slip is a long way from the house. Workmen are putting in wooden bearings to keep the house together as the land slips away. A wire cable and an anchor will probable be used also. They think that there is no chance of the clay settling down and remaining where it is. The chimney of the house has been dismantled. Heavy rains have caused slips in other streets. In Rawene Avenue, Herne Bay, a big area of the frontage of Mr. H. J. Alder’s place has slipped away crushing a boatshed and leaving the house almost at the edge of a precipice. The neighbour’s place was evidently saved by a large pohutukawa tree. Along West End Road the clay bank has slipped and buried the footpath. A retaining wall will have to be put up there or properties will be endangered.