THE EARTHQUAKE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 664, 15 November 1909, Page 7

THE EARTHQUAKE.

*, LITTLE REAL DAMAGE DONE. It was not until Saturday morning that one could really gauge if any real damage had been \ occasioned by the sharp oarth-jolt experienced on Friday night. There were few that did not feel tho shook, and all agree that it was the sharpest shock Wellington has experienced since tho big earthquake of five years ago. Minor damage was sustained in many a household, vases','glassware, and crockery being smiished in several cases. In one honse in Biowil Street two pictures fell from'the walls, tho ihd'jk Doing great enough to jerk the cord from tM'hooks which hold them. Some of tho whole* salil and retail houses which 6tock crockery and glateware sustained losses, in'one case up to as milch as .£SO worth. At the Tree Publio Lilrary on Friday evening tho occupants of tho public reading-room stampeded as the result of the shock, but thoso'in the reference-room upstairs did not trouble) themselves much about tho quake—it was-the triumph of culture. No damage of any moment was sustained nt the library, which standi on , what are called "fldating foundations." There are slight cracks in the corners of the buttresses where the old building joins ,tho new. 1 'Steamer? travelling Wollingtonwards across Cook Strait on Friday ovening did not feel the quake, and Mr. J. It. Logan reports that nono ot the Cook Strait cables were affected by the disturbance. ;; : .; : ATVTHE;£EISMOGRAPH SAYS. v; ; ;: y; A ;;TILT^C^THE:^ :.'-:" >Thowismc)graph:gives.'a,eDriouß report of tho! ■• earthquake.,; This ■instrument consists .of some .; ; which ip..time of peace produces a continuous stroight ;.:..:.' -line; on a band -of: sensitised paper. When an. ;::,.'earthquake :opcura;,the ipaper, ion . being 'de- '•',:. 'v.volopea, shows: disturbances intheline;; Occa- '■;]■ \. .'gionally a.':, shock will 'cause 'something '■". mora' ~. f > than .tremors and 'oscillations of the earth; it. ,V.,' ; .will cause a/'tilt",of the;earth's surface in the' v.:;';.. !affectod 'locality.' ;This;.was.the case on-Friday: ■■■\ -I. ■;' night, Vend.. the: tilt: showed, itself in a sudden' ... i.discoftbnuity:pf thelino on,the seismographie ', ).'■'.. record.';. Such -adiscontinuity :could be caused '.': .■'.,">■ • by;- the sudden', settling.-, down of . an '.•■: insecure ■-[■;■■■ •'.; i foundation',for":tho. instrument, but • this :was ..'■■:. - not the^se .'on Friday.:.Theresas a positive. • i..:tilt:,of .the'.earth's;, orust relative to the hori- ;:; /;. ■■;■. .::■ : ,-.■; ■;'■;'"' -In'the past thero.have.beeni'soismictilts of v,,:this kind;.'but ; .they_have;almost always: been ~•;■;■ tilts-to. the west. ; ; That on,Friilay-;.was, a.': tilt ■•'.:■■ tothe east;' For savoral years thoro have been . 'evidencesi of: ; a general settling down of the ; ., .west i'and' a; corresponding : rising ,of 4 ,tho ' east ;, ..coast v of:,thO;"co(i'ntry. : ' The .subsidence is 'not .;..'.- extensive:.it i has, only altered the high water: '•■'; mark on either; coast,by a few .inches. The . ~». tilt jwhich ,t6oki.placo on Friday night■ looks :. very, alarming on the seismograph record, but .'!■■ : it .was;in fact-so small' that it. would alter the perpendicularity of: ah imaginary fixed vertical , post by 2J million tlm; of four right angles, or les3 than : one] thousandth of a degree—a quantity not only inappreciable, but practically im? ■ ■ -.■'■:.. measurable.':': Vy:;: -:.v: ■:s.i;,-.-. \ -.-.. .: