THE EARTHQUAKE AT OAMARU.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 532, 2 March 1876, Page 3

THE EARTHQUAKE AT OAMARU.

{North Otago Times., Feb. 28.) Several shocks of earthquake, of a much more severe nature than we ever before experienced in Oamar j, occurred on the morning of Saturday, the 26th instant. The first commenced at 3 20 a.m., and lasted from thirty to forty seconds. It was accompanied by a loud rumbling noise, and aroused the whole population in alarm. Houses rocked violently, and the entire ground vibrated with a sickening, tremulous motion: Doors were banged open, clocks stopped, and, in some cases, ornaments and crockery were hurled to the floor from mantelpieces and shelves, while the contents of swinging bookcases were shot out pell xnell. The earth vibrated more or less for many minutes, and at 4.5 a.m. a shock of a much fainter character occurred. At 4.11 a second violent shock was experienced, still more so than the first, and again at 8.45 a.m. a third shock. This was the most severe of all, and caused very considerable alarm, several chimneys being shaken down, and the rocking motion of the ground being most unpleasant. All over the town stone buildings have more or less suffered, and a large number of chimneys have already been pulled to pieces, ithe stones having been so much displaced as to make them insecure. At Mr o'Meagher's residence three chimneys were thrown down, on the hill above Tees and Itchen streets one of Dr Wait's chimneys was hurled to the ground, and the others had to be taken down for safity, while at Captain Sewell's, Mr Bunting's, Mr Steward's, and many other residences on the hill, the chimneys have been so shaken as to be unsafe. 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 Tow nsend's new buildings in Tyne street also 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 ornamented the balustrade at the top of the Star and Garter Hotel, on the Itchen street front, fell to the ground with a crash ; and at the Empire Hotel three similar ornaments came crashing to the street, one of them falling between the barman ani Mr Weedon, who happened to be on the pave-

ment outside at the time, and had a very narrow escape. The pillars of the National Bank show that the building felt the shock severely, the edges of the stones composing the pillars which support the entablature being chipped at the joints. The stone balustrade at the top of Cahill's Boarding House was broken, and the front of the new three-storey 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 the others so much disturbed that they had to be taken to pieces. The English Church does not appear to have suffered, but at St Paul's church some damage has been done, though not of a serious character. The pinnacle at the north-east corner was shaken, and turned a quarter round on its bed, and the crosses at the finish of the gables have been thrown out of line, but the main walls do not appear to have been damaged. The tall chimney shafts at Hay and Barr's and Meek's steam mills escaped, probably because their great height allowed of a little play. News from Waiareka states that the shocks were very severely felt in that district, clocks being stopped, crockery hurled down and smashed, &c. The direction of the earth wave appears to have been generally Eaßt and West, or, more precisely, between E. by N.J-N. and W. by S.£S. The tremulous motion of the ground.was faintly continuous from the time of the first great shock at twenty minutes past 3 till the second heavy shake at 11 minutes past 4 with scarcely an interval. The shocks were felt by the vessels in the roads, the sensation afloat being described similar to that of a vessel striking ; while on chore it was like nothing so much as the feeling experienced on board a steamer pitching in a head sea when the screw is out of the water and shakes the vessel from stem to stern with a tremulous motion and a rumbling sound. We hear that the earthquake was not experienced at Christchurch, and only faintly at Dunedin, from which we infer that the source of action is probably in South America, and that the earth-wave has crossed the South Island of New Zealand between the 44th and 46th parallels, thus causing Oamaru to be just in the centre of the line of direction.

The following information has been received in reply to a telegram to Kakanui: — Kakanui Mouth, Feb 26th, 12.15 p.m.

Most of the chimneys are down here. All the stone houses are shaken. Nothing serious.

The above was published as an Extra on Saturday afternoon. Since then we have received additional particulars of damage done in private houses, &c, Mr Joseph Booth being represented as one of the greatest sufferers, having had a number of valuable ornaments, &c. thrown down and broke. On all sides we hear of walls being shaken, plaster shaken down, &c. We are, however, glad to find that no more serious damage has been done than above detailed, and we are also pleased to be informed by Mr Johnston, architect for Mr Grave's new building in Thames street, that that building has not suffered in the least, as was supposed. From Maheno, Mr P. Williams kindly sends the subjoined information:—"The following is our experience. At about a quarter past three o'clock a.m. everybody in my house was wakened up by a severe shock of earthquake, which lasted for three or four minutes; direction, east and west; and at inteivals of about a quarter of an hour each, two other shocks were felt, but they were very light. At about a quarter to nine this morning another shock took place, more severe than the former, making the bells ring and cracking the plaster in several places. It lasted for about a minute. Direction the same as before. I have never experienced so severe an earthquake in Otago before." THE SHOCKS ON SUNDAY. A very uneasy feeling prevailed throughout the town during the whole of Saturday, the general opinion being that we had not yet felt the last of the shocks, and not a few persons sat up all night. The opinion proved correct, though, fortunately, the further shocks experienced were of a much milder character than those of Saturday. On Sunday morning three shocks were felt, the first at 0.56, the second 6.5, and the third at 8.7. Ordinarily they would have been considered severe, but by contrast with those of a few hours before were unimportant, though after the first the earth vibrated with a tremulous motion for Beveral minutes. The direction appeared to be more towards north and south than those of the previous. As these were of so much milder character, it is hoped that the subterranean forces have spent themselves, and that there will be no further disturbance to record.

Since writing the above, we regret to state that another shock, very distinct, but not very strong, was felt, the imposing stones and pendant articles in our office visibly moving. The time was twenty minutes past 9 o'clock last night. Another slight "quake" was felt at 11 o'clock.

A correspondent at Cave Valley writes : " An alarming shock of earthquake was felt at Cave Valley about thirty minutes past 3 o'clock on Saturday morning, the 26th inst. The shock lasted about five minutes, in some parts, where it was most severely felt, causing much alarm, by the violent shaking of houses and their contents. Two other slighter shocks were felt soon afterwards. Another severe one was felt about 9 a.m. The ground was seen and felt moving very much ; but this shock was not so severe as the one first felt in the early morning. The following additional particulars are taken from the North Otago Times of February 29th :—Subsequently to the shocks mentioned in yesterday's issue, as having been felt at 20 minutes past nine and at eleven o'clock on Sunday night, another shock of considerable severity was experienced at 1.20 on Monday morning, and between that time and 4 a,m,, shocks of a mild character were frequent, indeed, the earth can scarcely be said to have been at rest for more than 10 or 15 minutes at any one time, a tremulous vibration being for something like three hours almost continuous. Again at 12.25 p.m. yesterday, there was a sharp shock. Happily, the force has evidently greatly diminished, and it is to be hoped that we have now experienced the last of the earthquake. From time to time we hear of further damage which has been done. Among the buildings which have been injured may be mentioned the Gas Works, and the hospital, both of which have suffered severely. At the hospital the north wall of the main building will require to be partially pulled down and rebuilt, and the chimney over the lying-in-ward is almost thrown down. Three other chimneys are also severely shaken, and will have to be pulled, (town. and

rebuilt. During the shocks on Saturday, the patients were greatly alarmed, and one of them with a broken leg leaped out of bed. Under the instructions of the doctor, the whole of the patients were removed to the south ward for safety. Yesterday a meeting of the hospital committee was held, and steps were taken to cause the necessary repairs of the building to be effected. People generally are now recovering from the scare which these repeated shocks have occasioned, but to show to what an extent it prevailed we may mention that since Saturday night several families have removed from their own (stone) houses, and slept in coachhouses and outbuildings, in which there was no danger to be apprehended from falling chimneys. Last evening another very heavy shock was felt at 8.38 o'clock. A correspondent, writing from Hampden, says : —A loud rumbling noise, with a very severe shock, occurred at 3.30 on Saturday morning. Another less severe shock was felt about six hours after. Several clocks were stopped. No damage was done. We had hot sultry weather on Sunday, but no shocks were felt, We learned last evening that the shocks on Saturday were felt severely at Totara, three of the chimneys of Totara House being thrown down.