EARTHQUAKE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1451, 28 May 1912, Page 6

EARTHQUAKE.

"MOST SEVERE FOR FORTY YEARS." CHIMNEYS OVERTHROWN. lEr Teleeraßh.-Prcje AuoclsitloaJ Auckland, May 27, A' sharp earthquake shock was felt at C.5 p.m. on Sunday. One chimney fell at Parnell with a crash. Otherwise no damage elsewhero is reported. l<ater. Reports from country districts shew that tho earthquake last wring ;va> general throughout tho province although no damage was reported. 'J. ho unusual occurrenco created much alarm m the citjaud suburbs, many people rushing from their houses ior fear ot serious consequences - Hamilton, May 27. A smart earthquake was experienced here, lasting thirty seconds, at t> o clock last evening. Country reports state that tho shock was general. Old residents describe it as the most severe for forty years. Ono of the jewellers shops in Hamilton had the window goods thoroughly mixed and tho glass smashed. New Plymouth, May 27. Tho severest earthquake sinco 1903 occurred at G. 3 p.m. yesterday. A few chimneys were overthrown, and other slight damage, is reported. Inglewood, May' 27. A smart shock of earthquake was felt at five minutes past six last night in the direction of east and west. Its duration was fifty seconds. „__ •V sharp earthquake shock was felt here at G o'clock on Sunday evening. A similar shock is reported from Oliura. Waihi, May 27. ■V sharp shock of earthquake, lasting ten to fifteen seconds, occurred here a lew miuutes after ti o'clock last evening. Hawera, May 27. There was a very sharp shock of earthquake at Hawera at live minutes past six o'clock last evening, lasting several seconds'. .. „. Taihape, May li. •V prolonged earthquake tremor—a sharp shock—was felt here about six o'clock last night. The undulations wore mild at first, working up to a shock, then gradually subsiding. Tauranga, May 2*. A sharp shock of earthquake occurred hero at 6.10 o'clock last night. Rotorua, May 27. An earthquake was felt here at 6 p.m. yesterday. EXPERIENCES IN AUCKLAND. STATEMENT 111' PROFESSOR THOMAS. Auckland, May 27. The topic of conversation in Auckland to-day is yesterday's earthquake, the. last one o"f equal severity being that ot June, 1891/ ' ~ , •

limt© a large nuniui-r ui aumum >"■ leuts did not feel'the 'quake at all, ami :his seems to have been tho general e.\lerience of all who were out of doors at he time, but of course the nature of the omidation of a bnilding would lime a treat deal to do with its responsiveness o the shudder. Atthat particular time, at o'clock on Sunday evening, the majority if people are usually at tea, and last light there were a good many hundred ncthers who looked reprovingly across at onuj frequently mischievous sons waom hev naturally though had been playing ■ames with the tea table. It was not long, iowevery before the swinging gas brackets, he rattle of dishes and sideboards, the ihaking of pictures on the wall, and the 'eneral bewilderment of everybody, forced he conclusion that something unusual iad occurred. . Pedestrians in one city street wore mndo -'■•V- certain that something haii happen>d 'when they saw tho inhabitants t.F a a.rge boardin?honse rush pell niell into ;h» street. In some lumses the inhabitants 'vere quite unconscious that anv.jhing ungual had happened at al . This expense however, vra? probably duo to tl.o nature of the house, and not to tne circumstances that only certain localities ivere affected. . Oh each side of the : harbour Hie e.vum - sue-) was practically the- same. Those who weTe indoors at the time felt the ■quake very distinctly, and tho* who irero out of door? were unaware that ai.ythintr unusual had occurred at all. The 'quake provided at least one exemplification of the manner in winch ;„„ tho most unexpected events ire made, by some people, to provide m-ther food • for their . pet gneviice" \t about ten minutes after 'he tecunants of the Men Terrace police ; htion had experienced the sensat on. discussing if, came an excited mmmons nt the station door The servant in charge answered the door to iiscover before him an aged couple who, •o sometime past, had bothered him rith a chronic complaint to the effect ■hat the bovs of the neighbourhood threw ItoneHt their house. "Come at once," : hev shrilled this time. "Them boys S thrown a bomb at the house and it's for a burglar /an unusual Wunder, but it was made restordav. A clerk was sitting in one of -he si ip'ping offices in the city diligently ottiii" ca'U when the preliminary tremrs arrived. Some of the first quivers ,pU a- delicately-balanced ledger or ;omethin" equnllv ponderous, and it came iCu with a solid and convincing bang. The clerk had had no experience of earthquake, but he had a lively sense of the presence in tho citv of a gang of burglars nrone to the use of dynamite, ond he left rhe premises as fast as he could and gave lie alarm. "The safe's gone; the safe s W" he called out. and the immediate disturbance created by the remark put consideration of a mere earthquake out n f the question. In no time there was a little crowd and a policeman, and the constable called UP others; the central station was run? up. and with all the =pml of burglar-a?hting organisation- at least fifteen constables and detectives arrived and formed an attacking tiarty They stormed the office and searched it hMi iind low. but by the timo they got tlipre the earthquake had gone. Interviewed this morning on the matter nf vpsterdny's earthouake Trofessor A. p W Thomas remarked that the times c-iK-pii in such eases as to when the earthoccurred had to bo taken with some reserve, but it would seem that Ivew Plvmouth was nmrwt to tho centre of ho <listnrbance This would point to the earthquake'centre lying to the west somewhere in the Ismail Sen. On that sunposition could bo explained tho approximate similarity in time of arrival at such iHsbint nlaces fi.* Auckland. Kotoma, and Wellington. That also would bear out the nWner of nny informnhon from tlie Smith Island. Professor Thomas remarkerl thnt nowadays most prominence wns "iveii in considerinsr the eausps-of enrthnunVw to the theory thnt the eradnnl loading of some narfc of the earth with detritus carried down hv denudation from varioils causes, and the consequent relief of stress from nnothpr part, was r<*sponsiblo -fnr the siwhlpn jar or tho par Hi tremor. The detritus was worn away from mniinWn liciirhts and deposited on the neighbouring levels or in the sea. The consequence was that Hip load on the mountain was lightened whilst that on th» sea floor was increased. fpo far as can lvi nscpi'tninod the earthquake was not felt in Wellington.!