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The damage caused by the earthquake was intensified and the work of restoration seriously hampered by the heavy rain which fell for some days following the main shock and by the small shocks which continued for many days. The first news of the effect of the disaster on Westport was received by radio from the s.s. " Trewyn " via Radio-Auckland about an hour after the occurrence. It indicated that the town was badly shaken, that the majority of the residents had vacated their homes, and that the lighting and water-supply services were interrupted. Steps were at once taken to arrange for urgent telegrams to be exchanged with the town via Radio-Awarua and Radio-Wellington and the ships in the harbour (the s.s. " Kaitoke " and the s.s. " Trewyn "). About 4 p.m. on the day of the upheaval Christchurch regained communication by telegraph with Greymouth. The position in that district, although serious enough, was not so bad as at Westport. Both the G-reymouth and Hokitika Post-office buildings were severely shaken, but remained habitable. The same applied to the Nelson Chief Post-office building. Minor damage to other buildings was also reported in the Greymouth and Nelson districts. The first news from Murchison was received after 8 p.m., having been despatched by messenger to Glenhope and thence by telegraph to Nelson. It indicated that the position in the Murchison district was serious indeed. Slips containing thousands of tons of earth had occurred, eliminating roads and lines and blocking rivers. The damming of the rivers caused serious apprehension because of the possibility of floods, the rivers affected having their sea outlet at Westport. The post-office was very badly shaken, and was rendered uninhabitable, as were most of the residences in the township. Immediately news of Westport's plight was received arrangements were made for an emergency restoration party, consisting of engineering officers, linemen, cable-jointers, and mechanicians, to be despatched from Wellington. Fortunately, a vessel was leaving Wellington for Westport on the morning following the earthquake, and at some inconvenience the ship's complement willingly found accommodation for the restoration party, together with their supplies, consisting of sufficient material and equipment to install a,complete telegraph-office and telephone exchange at Westport in case that should be necessary, and, in addition, cable and jointing materials, miscellaneous line plant and internal equipment, and short-wave radio apparatus. The Westport staff had on the day of the earthquake transferred their operations to the old Drill Hall. Later, the old post-office building, occupied by the Public Works Department, was made available, and on the arrival of the emergency party on the 19th June no time was lost in transferring the telegraph and telephone apparatus to this building. Fortunately, the exchange apparatus was little damaged. By 2.30 p.m. on the day of the party's arrival Morse communication with Greymouth had been effected, and on the same evening radio communication was established with Radio-Wellington. By the 23rd June a number of the more important telephone connections at Westport had been reinstated, and on the 25th idem the telephone-exchange system was completely restored. Two wireless operators from Christchurch arrived at Westport by aeroplane about midday on the 18th, and assisted in manning the " Kaitoke," which observed a continuous service during the period of stress. On this day the ships put to sea because of the fear that the Buller River would flood, but the " Kaitoke " remained off the port and continued to maintain communication between Westport and the outside world, a launch being the means of communicating with the shore. On the same day one of the two aeroplanes returned to Christchurch with a letter-mail and telegrams. Reliable communication between Christchurch and Greymouth was re-established, and Westport regained touch by telegraph with Granity, Millerton, and Denniston. On the 19th Christchurch managed to secure a shaky telegraph-line to Westport, and on the same date Nelson was able to regain Murchison by telegraph. Karamea still remained isolated pending an opportunity for sending to that place by aeroplane a wireless operator and a low-power radio transmitter that had been constructed by the emergency party at Westport. On the 20th a party from the settlement managed to come overland to Westport, and they reported the conditions to be very bad. A difficulty now appeared at Blenheim, water finding its way into the underground cable-ducts and causing the disconnection of a large number of subscribers. Communication was not completely restored for two or three days. On the 21st the money-order and savings-bank branch of the Westport office was reopened, the telephone exchange then being the only branch that remained interrupted. For some time the limited facilities outlined carried the whole of the traffic from the district, but the early provision of improved radio apparatus at Westport and the installation of similar equipment at Greymouth relieved the risk of complete interruption of the service. Except for a few days immediately following the earthquake, it was not necessary, however, to use the radio apparatus at Greymouth. Communication with Murchison by road was regained on the day following the earthquake, allowing the passage of mails. Communication beyond was impossible. Rail communication between Christchurch and the West Coast was also interrupted for a short time. For some weeks mails for Westport required to be transported on foot over the landslides in the lower Buller Gorge. By the 21st, however, a daily service was being maintained. On the 24th, as a result of exceptionally heavy rain, communication between Murchison and Glenhope by road and telephone was again interrupted for some time, and on the 25th, as a result of a further slip in the lower Buller Gorge, Westport was once more cut off, restricting communication to wireless, outlets being maintained both from the departmental station and the " Kaitoke." Communication overland was restored about 5 p.m. For some days the second aeroplane from Christchurch had been standing by at Westport awaiting a favourable opportunity to proceed to Karamea, which was still isolated, with a wireless operator and equipment. An endeavour was made to arrange for carrier-pigeons to be sent to