THE EARTHQUAKE.

Evening Star, Issue 4059, 29 February 1876, Page 2

THE EARTHQUAKE.

, , A (From tiurffv Q. Times.) j of - ; mUch : .more severe' nature than were.eyer IbefpM «-! perienced' in Cam am, (mlhemolmlng; of Saturday, the 26th inat. The 'filet cdm-> 'mencedat 3i20 a.m.» and lasted from’,w to 40 seconds, It was accpmpanied ' hy a loud rumbling noise, and aroused tnq wkolejmp^t’ion in alarim /Hoimes rocked,-violently,' entire ground .vibrated vyith a sidcemng. tre j mulous motion. : Doors. were .banged ppenj clocks-stopped, and, in .seme cp9es,,,drsameu‘W and crockery were hurled ‘to the floor from mantelpieces atad shelves, while the qontenta of 'swinging bookcases were shot ous pell melb The earth vibrated more pr , less for' many minutes, and at 4;5 a.m. ; a. shock cf a much fainter character ocaurred. At 4.11 a second- .violent, shock was experienced, still more so than the first, first, and .again at : 8.46 a.m. a third , shock; This wAs the most severe of all, and very considerable alarm, severalcmmneys being shaken down, and the, rocking .potion of the ground being most unpleasant. ' All oVer the toWn stone buildings bavo more or less suffered; and a large number of .chimneys have already' beeh ptdled to piecps. the stones having been so much to make them insecure. • At MrO’Meagher’s residence three chimneys were. thrown down; on the hill above Tjtes. and Itcben streets one of Dr Wait’s chimneys Was burlcd to the ground, and the others had to be taken dehn for .safe'yj while at Captain Sewell’s, Mr Bunting’s, Mr Steward’s,, and many other residences on.the.hUl, tbe cMuinc ys have been so shaken as to be unsafer Mr, Sumpter’s new building, Exchange Chambers, in .Tyne street, has suffered considerably, and the face of Mr Maude’s new store has been cracked, and the chimney' thrown down. Mr Townsend’s new buildings in Tyne 'street alto suffered, and at the Railway Station and the Bank of New Zealand the chimneys were all so disturbed that they had to be pulled down. One* of the vases which ornament the balustrade at the top of the Star and Garter Hotel, op the Itcben street front, fell to the ground with a crash ; and ac the Empire Hotel three similar ornaments came crashing to the street, one of them filing between'the barman and Mr WeedOn who happened to be on the pavement outside at the time, and had a very ; narrdw escape. The pillars of the National Bank show that that building felt the shook: severely* the edges of the stones composing the pillars which support the entablature being chipped at the joints. Theistone balustrade at the top of Cahill’s Boarding-house was broken, and the front of ' the new thr building- adjoining, in course of erection for. Mr J. Grave, was slightly shaken. At the gaol part of one of the turrets was ’shaken down, and i he others so’ mUchdjsturbed that-i they had to .be taken to pfecesl 'The English Church dues upt appear 'td 1 hate suSferedt ibutvat St; PauTs Church some damage has been done, though-not .of a s*iioUs thUnoijfcheast corner was shaken, and tarns*!-*. round op its bed, and the cA»ees(i&ithcr finish)' of the gables'', bivd bfedn thi own put of line, but. <the mamWiUa do not appear to have been' damaged. Mr Joseph Booth ia one„o£the

valuable broVen. Oajru sides we ieSrof walls beiefe , shaken, plflifeti shakenl dPWu, ifcoiv ar?, howem.v glad i» di&.\ np more pi&oiu* damage h&s thsph done&kfliaa abofji. detailed;'! The tfll ‘ r&imneyShafte at.-' Hajr and XBair’s »tdtMeekV v *SSIm4 millß beaStaio thdfMW height'UlowPavf a kittle! plafK N'eiw'ttom crockery being hurled down Thu direction of the eaflh*wivy« .appears to have been generally east and west, or, more precisely, between E. and by N.JJS. and W. by The iremulous motion of die ground w«s faintly continuous from the

*imft,>qLihe_Jtot great shock at twenty/ minutes at eleven minutes past four wfth scarcely an interval The eh ckswete'fejt fly the vessels in the roads, the sensation afloat being .oLa ing while on shore it was luce much ,as the feeling experienced on board a ■steamer'pitching in a ht«'l sea wht - $s out of the water the wfiolfl vessaj'" 'from stem, to stem with and a inmbHtig spued. ■ We bear; that'thß / not' - experienced at, Chrilflf oburep, and only faintly at’ Uunedinf flppgjt Which we infer that jthe Source of actionht prohably in-South America, and/that ’wave has crossed’the South liohhd of'NeW Zen* ‘laud betweep the 44th and 46th ' '

causing Pahiflru to be J JuSt ilk die Centre d! IKa" linegf direction. ~ !t: > •i‘ i ; ~;i ij-.-Jr. From Maheno. Mr P. Williams kindly sends the subjoined, information" The following ip - our experience: -rAt pbout, a puartar padwtr o’clock etetybedy/in ,my wakened up by a severe shook of eamquakp;. 'Which lasted for three-or four minutes { diree- f dop .past and West) 'and at ibterVals'of about a quarter of an hour each two oth& Utookaiwief ftelfc hut ’they Were 1 fftylight. ‘ At about a quarter to 9 this hionuhg another'hhodc* tdbkT place,. more.eevere the former, making' the‘bells ring -and places. : It lasted for. about a minute ; direction the'name aV.-betord j I;have hhver perienced so severe *a earthquake in Otafo’ ‘ . ’■ f f ■ A oorrespoMeht' at Cafe ValleyWritsse--f ‘ Andannxng shock of ea thqtiakis was felt at Cafe Valley about tbiity minutes, past threeo’clock on Saturday morning,. ‘the 26th The shoqk lasted ahont five minutes in some parts Where it was most severely. felt,causing touch;' Plarm by the violent, shaking of bottom and their contents. Twootherslighter shocks’ WerefClt soon afterwards. ’ Another severe one! wiis felt about 9 am. Thagronndwas seen and 1 , felt moving very much; but this shook; wivs: hot so ‘severe asrthe DUO first felt in -the ehrly morning.” -n J At Eakanui Mouth most of the,chimneys fell.. and all the stone) houses were much shaken.

j .' i: OH msmk , , ... A yei'y uneasy feeling £revail&l throughout the tow.n duping the whole* the jgeneral o'pihi'ti mini? that We -had not ;tbe last of the shocks, aud not a few persona. :sat up ail nightJ The opinion proved .correct, though fortunately the further, shocks ejtpk.sietioed weroofca much nulderchaiacter than . I thoseof Saturday. .Qn Sunday mornlcgthme : shocks were felt, the first at the second at £.5., tod, third -at 8.7. Ordinarily they i wojds.faa!ye mien conndered severe, but by eon;.intst wittrlhost'-of afeWhohrt bef< frewere* un- : important, ..though, after the first 1 the ewrtH ; vibrated r with * a . tremuiops | sprawl' minutes* , The ; direction appqrad to be more towards ; north . and south than 'those of the previous day, . These were of much milder character. Another shock, distinct, but not ;very strong, was the imposing stones articles /in' our office vmbly moving. Tap time was twenty minutes past ..9 o’clock last night. Another slight “quake” 'was felt at 11 O’cloolt. ‘ At St. Luke’s Ohhrfih, on Sunday, thhfibv. Mr Gifford referred to.the recent varthqueite sKobks. and urged updn . the. congregation £Ke necewsxty of taking eve ry rewonablepre^utKii iu - the erection tip dtvellinghouses >to make them as secure as possible, in the event of * recuciencß of similar. disturbances. He-alao inculcated the that the town had bebnspared such a. bklumty as recently occurred in South! Amefloa. VI 1 ?"