Hollywood Rocks Us

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 410, 2 May 1947, Page 14

Hollywood Rocks Us

(Written for "The Listener" by

ALAN

FULTON

and catastrophes from the comfort and safety of a cinema seat with the realisation that no worse harm can result than a ‘cold sweat. It is fine, too, to believe that in such a position of safety land comfort one is being educated in the mysterious happenings of the universe, in the past as well as in present times. However, this means of education cannot be taken too seriously for, fortunately, or not, the aim of the motion picture is to entertain rather than to educate, so that when an exaggeration or twisting of the facts can produce a more striking, more dramatic, or more spectacular effect, the true story is discreetly pushed aside. Many exemples_ of this treatment of history by the cinema could be’ given, but the latest and perhaps the greatest is what concerns us now. tr. is fine to witness tragedies Of particular interest to New Zealanders is. the forthcoming film Green Dolphin Street, because it includes very spectacular scenes of early Wellington and its earthquakes of 1848 and 1855. According to a recently-published cable message from Hollywood, in a scene lasting three minutes the stars of the film totter on the lips of a crevasse which opens before them and which, as it shuts, swallows one unwary Maori. But that is not alli On a half-acre set, four water geysers and five mud geysers spout into the sky to heights ranging from 35 to 65° feet, while steam billows from openings in the earth, Not in all Geyserland, .nor even in the whole of New Zealand, were there ever so many geysers. It is strange that no one living in those troublesome times ‘left a record of such wonderful events as these-if they occurred. In fact, of course, they did not occur as Hollywood has depicted them: they were apparently not sufficiently awe-inspiring by cinema standards, though from all accounts-the cuthentic ones, that isthe earthquakes of 1848 and 1855 were interesting. and exciting enough in all conscience. * * T may, therefore, be just as well to give the true story, even though this can only be done for New Zealand itself. The unfortunate effect of this film in other parts of the world will probably be to confirm in the minds of millions of people the already well-established myth that New Zealend is a place which practically shakes itself to pieces and is submerged beneath the ocean every few years. According to accounts in newspapers of the time, the 1848 ear’ hquekes began at 1.30 a.m. on Monday, Ottober 16, with what was described as a hollow roar, the sound travelling at a rapid rate. Almost immediately the whole town was rattling and groaning from the worst shake ever felt by the settlers or remembered by the Maoris. The shocks con inued at intervals until 7.30. When daylight broke the place presented a melancholy appearance. Most of the _ brick stores and dwellings, together with many of the solid clay buildings, had receivéd a severe shock and in about twofifths of the town the chimneys were destroyed. The Wesleyan Chapel, the

jail, and other public buildings were seriously damaged, and the damage to glassware and other property was very great. Many people had narrow escapes but no one was killed. During Monday three or four light ‘shakes were felt. The weather cleared off in the evening and the stars appeared, but few slept during the night and at four o’clock, and again at seven, more tremors occurred. * * . N Tuesday business was at a stands.ill, though the shops were open as usual. At 3.30 another severe shake did considerable damage. In Farish Street the wall of Fitzherbert’s store collapsed on top of Sergeant Lovell and his two children as they were passing below. They were dug out immediately, but the two children were dead and the father so badly injured that he died a few days later. The hospital was severely damaged, so the patients were transferred to Government House. The patients of the Military Hospital, which was _ near Sturdee Street, were removed to the wooden bafracks at Mt, Cook, and the prisoners were taken from the jail and placed in the cusiody of the military forces. Tuesday night passed and Wednesday came slowly. Many. walked about all night and did not trust themselves in any plece of shelter; others found tents and coverings in the open air. Then, to add to the trouble, the tide rose to an unusual height, overflowing part of Lambton Quay and all the sections at the head of the bay fronting the water. The homeless were sheltered by those who were fortunate enough to be living in wooden houses, and the ministers of the several denominations likewise performed good. services, and prayers were offered morning and evening in all the churches left standing,yand in most of the private houses of the settlers. © On Wednesday, October 18, two or three light shocks were felt, and on the following day Rhode’s brick bonded store, the Wesleyan Church, and other brick buildings fell to the ground. Friday, October 20, was, by special proclamation of His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, set apart as a day of public fast, prayer and humiliation; and to prevent alarm the services were held in the open. The congregations were unusually large, unusually atientive, and unusually, devout. A number of settlers, after this series of phenomena, decided that they had "had" Wellington, with its land and native problems, its bush-fires and its earthquakes, and lost no time in making their way on to the barque Subraon which promised to take them at full speed to Sydney. However, fate was against these stout-hearted pioneers, because the vessel, when hurrying out of the Heads, ran on the rocks and became a total loss. All those on board reached shore and suffered the indignity of having to return on foot to Wellington for food, shelter and safety. ‘ oe is x * rs HE earthqtake of 1855 seems to have been every bit as severe as its predecessor, but because of the fewer brick (continied on next page) :

(continued from previous page)

buildings the damage was not so extensive. The shaking started during the evening of January 23, about nine o'clock, and continued with only short intervals throughout the night. No better account of the damage suffered by the town which was soon to become the capital exists than that of ‘Commander Drury, *of H.M. sloop Pandora, a part of which is as follows: "The first scene before us on landing wes the Government Office (Barrett’s Hotel) entirely destroyed, the upper storey, the falling of which had caused the crash we heard, lying on the ground. In an adjoining chemist’s shop the samples and compounds admixing had a decided bias to peppermint, while the doorway of the public house was a confusion of broken bottles. Amidst the general wreck of property but one life had been sacrificed (that of Baron Alzdorf, who was struck by one of his hotel’s falling chimneys), and not more than four others seriously wounded. The hour was favourable to the escape of adults who seized the children from beneath tottering chimneys, themselves not generally having retired to bed, The elegant and substantial new building, the Union Bank, is in its front a perfect ruin. Opposite to this building (corner of

Willis and Manners Street) a considerable opening on the road emitted slimy mud, and the main street was inundated. ... With shops exposed and every temptation to plunder there seemed to be neither fear nor thought of robbery, but a generous and manly feeling to ease each other’s burdens pervaded all classes, from the Superintendent to the lowest mechanic; from the Colonel to every soldier of the 65th Regiment." The earthquake did considerable damage around Wellington by causing landslides and slips, which blocked the road to the Hutt and the Wairarapa in several places. The river at the Hutt rose to an unusual héight and carried the bridge away, but nowhere did geysers spring up, nor is there mention of any crevasses of the size large enough to swallow an average-size Maori. There were, however, some Maoris killed-but they were far away from Wellington. Four were in a house in the Wairarapa, which received a shaking equal to that of Wellington, and the house collapsed on to the occupants. They met their deaths by suffocation. % * * REEN DOLPHIN STREET will undoubtedly be a film eagerly awaited in New Zealand; for t only has Hollywood recreated the past, but A

has improved on it. No great flood occurred after the shakes, but they have given us one; no Maori we know of was swallowed in a fissure, but we have been given this, too; and, most important of

all, no geysers were born during this upheaval, but all the ingenious contrivances of Hollywood have given us more geysers than New Zealand has ever been proud te possess.