Chimneys Tumble in New Plymouth

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 298, 8 March 1928, Page 1

Chimneys Tumble in New Plymouth

SEVERE EARTHQUAKE EXTENSIVE DAMAGE DONE Press Association. NEW PLYMOUTH, To-day. Damage amounting to many hundreds of pounds and the general demolition of chimney-tops resulted from a severe earthquake in New Plymouth at 6.50 a.m. yesterday. The shake was the most violent experienced here for many years. It lasted about 30 seconds, working up to a climax and then suddenly dying away. Numbers of chimneys were destroyed, while many others are cracked or have their tops displaced. In Eliot Street four houses in a row had the tops of the chimneys dislodged. Shops and buildings have also suffered, many displays of chiuaw.f-e having been dislodged and an occasional plate-glass window cracked. Shelves in many homes collapsed and articles in all positions were thrown on the floors. Several minor landslips occurred. One house suffered more than most, the whole top of one chimney snapping clean off near the roof, turning 45 degrees round and settling down again on the rest of the chimney. Nearly all the piles were wrenched up out of the ground. They settled again, but the whole contents of the pantry were precipitated in a jumbled mass on the floor, pictures and glass were shattered and books hurled across the room. Inglewood, Waitara, Stratford and Hawera all report having experienced the shake, though no damage occurred.