EARTHQUAKES IN NEW ZEALAND.

Evening Star, Issue 3011, 12 October 1872, Page 4

EARTHQUAKES IN NEW ZEALAND.

{From the Southern Cross.) ' By the meteorological tables lately issued by Dr Bennett, the Registrar-General, and laid before Parliament, we see that Welling, ton stands unrivalled amongst all the places in New Zealand for earthquakes. We never hear a word in the local papers of these events taking place, and it is only when the annual volume of statistics is issued that we are made aware of the quaky nature of the soil upon which the “Empire < ity” stands. Members of the Home of Representatives have been n-dating for some time past to have the sittings of Parliament and the records of the Colony removed to a place where they would be loss likely to be disturbed or destroyed by the periodical upheavals and shakings to which Wellington is subjected ; and there can he no doubt that in time the good seuse of tlm House will prevail. At present the records of the Colony for the last thirty or forty years may suddenly be buried in the ruins of the city, or swallowed up, should a more than usually severe shock occur. The danger has long been foreseen, and the violent disturbance to which earthquake regions ha”e lately been subjected has forced attention to this matter once more upon the public mind. Several scientific gentlemen in America have lately been ransacking the records of the past, and have found that at periods when earthquakes were frequent, severe, and destructive on the earth, remarkable celestial phenomena have taken place. The result of their examinations has led them to believe and expect that the coming transit of Venus will be the cause of violent earthquakes in localities subject to such tremors. In the table below us we lind that during the year 1871 there were 29 earthquakes recorded in the Colony, and of these unwelcome disturbances, Wellington is credited with no fewer than 11 —nearly one half of the whole. In a table showing the days upon Avhich these quakes occurred, we find that three occurred in the month of January, 1 in March, 1 in June, 1 in August, 1 in September, 1 in October, 2 in N ovemher, and 1 in December. So that it would seem the summer months were particularly subject to these visitations. No wonder, therefore, Ministers should seek, during tjic recess of Parliament, more stable ground upon which to reside and attend to their public duties. In the months of November, December, and January, there were no fewer than G out of the 11 of these earthquakes described. Solar heat 1 and underground disturbances are evidently twin sisters at Wellington. The other places named in this return are:— Taranaki, 1 ; Napier, 3; Nelson, 2 ; Christchurch, 2; Bealey (In the Province of Canterbury). 2; Hokitika, 3; Dunedin, 2; and Southland, 2. The circumstance of Wellington being so particularly shaky compared with the rest of the Colony may be accounted for by the fact well known in nautical and scientific circles—that the town of Wellington is situated upon the lip of a large volcanic crater at present covered by the waters of Cook Straits. The soundima show there a large circular basin considerably deeper than the surrounding parts of the Straits, and it is generally believed that it is from this unseen centre that the disturbances proceed. If so, it shows that volcanic action there, though comparatively quiescent for some years past, has not ceased, and the fearful thought cannot be kept from making itself felt at times, that a more than usually energetic upheaval may take place as has frequently been experienced in other earthquake regions, and that the “Empire City ” may become suddenly blotted out from the geography of New Zealand The yearly meteorological returns show that the underground powers by which it is supported are certainly of a very turbulent character,