Building 'fad' led to quake death

MASTERTON sits astride a series of active fault lines and the township has been rattled by earthquakes from time immemorial. Masterton's first pakeha settlers had to wait less than two years before suffering the first, and by far the worst, earthquake to hit the area in the post-European era, when an 8.2 magnitude hit in January 1855. Despite causing extensive damage, and persuading some of the settlers to reduce the size of their dwellings, the quake caused no loss of life.

The 1904 earthquake, which caused liquefaction in parts of Wairarapa, and caused damage to buildings throughout Wairarapa, was also fatality-free.

The 1942 earthquakes, that also created extensive damage to the town, causing most chimneys to shatter and fall and destroying most of the ornate architecture in the town's main street, somehow managed to cause no serious injury to the town's inhabitants. Most who lived through the earthquake say there would have been extensive loss of life if the two worst shakes had not taken place in the middle of the night.

It was the less damaging 1913 shake that caused Masterton's only recorded earthquake death, and it was a visitor to the town who was struck down.

Hone (or Hoani) Ngawhiro Marakaia was born and lived at Hamua. His mother Ngawhiro Marakaia was the eldest daughter of the esteemed chief Nireaha Tamaki who had fought the Crown to the Privy Council over land dealings in the 40 Mile Bush area. A 19-year-old who had recently married one of Mita Anaru's daughters, Hone Ngawhiro journeyed to Masterton on Saturday, April 12, to call his father in Wellington, to talk about the health of his mother, who was in a private hospital in the capital.

He was standing in the Masterton Post Office with his friend Tawhi Peneamine shortly after 7pm when the shock struck. Along with other customers, Ngawhiro, who was lame, rushed out of the building and into the street, and was standing about 1.5 metres into the roadway when a large concrete globe fell from the building, hitting him on the side of the head. He died within a few minutes despite the attentions of Doctors Cook and Cowie.

The Post Office building did not fare well in the shake. It trembled and rumbled, and falling masonry littered the ground. All the clocks in the building stopped, including the large four-faced clock in the tower, and ceilings shed plaster on to the floor. A chimney was cracked open and many of the staff were so unsettled by the movements they had to be taken home. It was later reported the upper portion of the tower was badly cracked by the earthquake.

The western side of town, especially near the railway station, seemed to suffer the worst effects of the quake, with many chimneys felled. The Wairarapa Daily Times reported this area also suffered badly in the 1904 earthquake, and said scientists had told them it was because that part of town was built on an old watercourse. They said there was an abundance of water only a metre underground, and that always led to earthquakes being felt more keenly.

Residents in the Lincoln Road area said the shake was awful, worse than the 1904 shake, and many were unnerved by the sound of falling masonry, crockery and bricks falling down their chimneys, landing on their ranges. In one house, an unoccupied chair was smashed into by bricks and destroyed.

The most excitement was felt in Queen Street, where cracks appeared in several brick buildings, and the many people in town for the evening were shaken out of shops and poured on to the streets. Lots of shoppers claimed they had heard the earthquake coming, a low ominous rumbling that began like 20 motors about to start.

According to the Daily Times, hundreds of people poured out into the street, which was like a "hive of bees" with customers rushing "pell-mell" out of the shops and on to the road. According to their reports, the men of the town were quite stoic, but women and children were screaming, some women even fainted.

People were scurrying through the street, gathering up children and spouses and ensuring everyone was all right, before heading home.

Inside the shops, much damage was caused by the shake, with bottles and crockery falling from shelves, but little major damage was caused to the buildings.

Several women were changing their books in the library when the building started to rock and sway. They quickly made for the door, but the first to arrive was a "stout lady" who became stuck in the doorway, despite wriggling and screaming enthusiastically.

A local poet claimed there was a connection between the arrival in Wellington of the HMS New Zealand and the earthquake. In a clever poem he wrote that the ship, donated by New Zealand to Great Britain's navy, had steamed into Port Nicholson, but had neglected to put the anchors down.

"The captain rushed on the deck.

'Cast anchors, men!, yelled he'.

They tossed them o'er the good ship's side,

Into the bloomin' sea.

Those anchors struck with such a bash

It shook the island through:

And that's the shock that frightened me,

And scared the life from you!'

The 1913 earthquake was soon forgotten. There were a few minor aftershocks, but there are almost no mentions of it in the newspaper in the following week.

An inquest was held into the death of Hone Ngawhiro on the morning of the 14th. Peneamine explained their visit to the Post Office, and Leonard Worthington said he saw the concrete ball fall from the Post Office and strike Ngawhiro on the head. He said everyone was running away because of the earthquake, so he went to Ngawhiro's aid, and with the help of Sergeant Miller moved him back into the Post Office. The sergeant reported the ball was about 40lb (18kg) and that he could see Ngawhiro's case was a hopeless one as soon as he saw him.

The Coroner ruled Ngawhiro was killed by a falling piece of concrete which had become detached from the Masterton Post Office building during the earthquake. He did not rule on culpability.

Hone's body was taken to the Hiona Pa for a tangi, then to the Te Ore Ore cemetery for interment. His relatives opened a case against the Government for their part in his death, and in August the Government announced they were going to pay £100 compensation to the whanau of the victim.

The Wairarapa Daily Times had no doubt the extravagances of the Post Office's decoration had played a major part in Ngawhiro's death. In a strongly worded editorial they came out strongly against the over-ornamentation of public buildings, calling it a fad on the part of the Public Works Department. They pointed out the decoration of such buildings with concrete ornamentation did not add to their beauty but did increase the danger to those in the vicinity of such a building during an earthquake.

They pointed out the Post Office building had been severely shaken and cracked in previous earthquakes, especially the 1904 shake, which was stronger than the 1913 shake, and predicted Masterton would one day be visited by an earthquake that would bring the tower crashing to the ground and entail heavy loss of life.

The building was repaired and strengthened, as it was to be later after the 1931 Napier and 1934 Pahiatua earthquakes. However, it was not until the 1942 earthquake, which knocked the top off the tower, sending it crashing to the street, that the tower was removed and almost all the ornamentation stripped from the building. It was demolished and replaced by the current building in 1961.