THE EARTHQUAKE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 116, 9 October 1914, Page 4

THE EARTHQUAKE.

STARTLING EXPERIENCE. STEAMER BROUGHT TO A STANDSTILL. WHITE ISLAND ACTIVE. By Telegraph—Press Association. Gisborne, October 8. When the steamer Mokoia was oil Cape Runaway yesterday morning tho vessel was suddenly brought to an almost dead standstill and trembled violently. The first conclusion was that thc propellor had stripped, or that tho steamer had struck some submerged object, but Captain Drewette, knowing ho was in 800 fathoms of water and ten Unilcu off laud, and finding that no damage had l»e«n done to the vessel, concluded that an earthquake was responsible. Tho vessel'# jnasta rocked and the whole ship quivered from end to end. Tho sensation beggared description. The steamer was then thirty miles from White Island.

Tokomaru Iky reports a further slight shock at 1.30 this morning, but no further damage was done. No further trace lias been found of Percy Jones, who was lost at Cape Runaway, and it is feared his body wijl never bo recovered owing to the great quantity of earth under which he is presumably 'buried. Jones had a narrow escape from being engulfed in a landslide at Mangatu during tho flood in 1900, when Tiffen's house was carried away.

Opotiki reported last evening that White Island was belching black suioke, a very unusual thing.