EARTHQUAKE SHOOKS,

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 265, 18 November 1901, Page 2

EARTHQUAKE SHOOKS,

CATHEDRAL SPIRE CRACKED. POST OFFICE WRECKED. [BY TELEGRAPH. PRESS ASSOCIATIOX.] Christchurch, Saturday. One of the sharpest shocks of earthquake felt here for many years was experienced at 7.47 a.m., lasting over half a minute. The Cathedral spire was cracked in tivo places, and part of the spire under the cross has been shifted about a foot. Beyond the injury to the Cathedral spire, the damage to other buildings is not considerable. Several house chimneys fell, and the tank under the roof of the Diroct Importing Company overflowed, and damaged goods two storeys below. It was feared that Wardell’s new building at the corner of High and Cashel streets had gone out of plumb, but experts stale this | is not the case. The only apparent damage is a crack in a small chimney at tho Normal School, which is built on i peaty ground. Several cracks are noticoablo on the outside walls. One crack in the northern gable, though not serious, seems to show that, but for the buttress, the whole wall would have fallen. Leading builders estimate that it will take iSOO to repair the Cathedral spire, the same amount practically as on the previous occasion. Wellington, Saturday. The Postal Department is advised that tho Cheviot post office was* completely wrecked by this morning’s earthquake. Everything was dismantled, and every jar in the office broken. One death, that of a baby, is reported, and two accidents occurred. Cheviot was in a state of collapse, business being suspended. Damage was also done to the post office at Waiau.

Telegrams reporting the earthquake shock were also received from Oamaru, Timaru, Ashburton, Nelson, Blenheim, Westport, Greymouth, and Dunedin. FURTHER PARTICULARS. TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF DAMAGE. CHILD KILLED. MAN’S BODY THROWN FROM COFFIN. HOUSES RENDERED UNINHABITABLE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) Christchurch, last night.

An interview with a gentleman who had coino through to Bangiora from Cheviot yesterday showed that the earthquake at the latter place had been most disastrous. There is hardly a bouse habitable in the township, and the uamago is variously estimated at from .£IO,OOO to A'do,ooo. Every chimney in the settlement is down—there is not a singlo one standing.

The first shock was so severe that people were thrown to the ground in all directions.

The child killed was only two months old, and belonged to Mr Charles Johnson. The family lived in a sod house with iron roof, and on the first shock the whole structure collapsed, the child being recovered dead from tho ruins. The body of the late Dr Williamson, who died a few days previously, was thrown from its coflin, and tho houso was much damaged. The township looks as though it had been through a bombardment. Gemborthy’s largo boarding house was completely wrecked. Scott’s hotel was so damaged that it will have to bo rebuilt. McTaggart’s butchers’ shop, which was built of brick, is simply a heap of ruins. Hall and Co.’s storo has boon removed completely from the foundations, and hardly a dwelling house in tho town is habitable. Many of tho inhabitants refuse to return to their dwellings, and arc camping in the open. The bluff and beach roads are entirely blocked, and the school-house at Port Eobinson is wrecked. The telegraph office suffered most seriously, all tho instruments being smashed and everything overturned. To illustrate the force of the shock heavy iron plates in the office wore overturned. The shook was most severely felt in Mackenzie and Spottiswood. ■it Domett houses were shaken and chimneys thrown down. When the last information came from Cheviot at o p.m. tho shocks were still continuing. At Waiau and Tipape tho shaking was most severely felt. At Waikari a lot of damage was done. The heaviest losers are McDowell (storekeeper), Kermode (hotolkceper), McNaught (saddler), White and Co. (storekeepers), and Lorner (hotelkeeper), and the vicarage of the Church of England is almost in ruins. There is hardly a chimney left standing in the place. Several women fainted. SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATIONS. GROUND IN CONSTANT STATE OF VIBRATION. ANOTHER SHARP SHOCK.

MAGNETOGRAPH THROWN OUT OF GEAR.

[By Telegraph—Press Association.] _ Christchurch, last night. Mr C. Coleridge Farr, in charge of the magnetic observatory, interviewed regarding the earthquake, expressed regret that he had not yet had time to placo the seismograph in position,but magnetographs which he set in operation during the day (after tho big shock) show that there were frequent tremors during the afternoon and night. At least twelve distinct shocks, Mr Farr states, were recorded between noon and midnight, and between 7.00 p.m. and IO.dO p.m. Tho ground was evidently in a constant state of vibration. At about 8.20 there was a sharp shock, which was also felt at Cheviot. At six o’clock this morning, Mr Skoy (Mr Farr’s assistant) says, there was another sharp shock, and at this time the magnotograph record showed six distinct shocks in seven minutes. The heavy shock on Saturday morning threw one of the three instruments out of gear.