NIGHT OF TERROR

Taranaki Daily News, 29 November 1926, Page 13

NIGHT OF TERROR

EARTHQUAKES IN N.Z. FLIGHT FROM HOMES. The above headings appear above a wire published in a recent issue of the Sydney Sun. The message stated:— Auckland, Saturday. With earthquakes following one another thick and fast, residents of the little town of Morrinsville have just concluded a day and night of terror. If these shows continue many will abandon the town. The earthquakes shook the place to its foundations, and widespread damage was caused. Buildings swayed violently. Chimneys fell with a resounding noise on to iron roofs. Crockery aud glassware crashed on to the floors, and whole shelves of goods fell. In the shops floors were strewn knee deep in broken glassware. Scarcely * building escaped some damage. The people ran pell mell into the streets.. Women shrieked and fainted. One man fell on his knees and prayed. Most damage was done in Thame* Street, the main business thoroughfare. A woman who ran out to seek her baby was struck by a falling brick and severely injured. Last night the majority camped in the open. All business is at a standstill. An amazing fact is that adjacent districts almost entirely escaped the shocks. A former Taranaki resident, who sends us the clipping, remarks:—"Thia sort of thing is detrimental to New Zealand. The Guardian and Sun show a tendency to publish disparaging statements regarding New Zealand. I know of a recent case of two Scottish businese ladies, with £6OOO to invest, cancelling their passages to the Dominion and going to Sydney instead, all because of what they had read in the Sydney papers about the earthquakes in New Zealand. For the same reason Australian tourists prefer to visit Java and jthe South Sea Islands to going to New Zealand. Can’t something he done to stop the .Sydney papers from publishing exaggerated statements regarding th* Dominion 1”