DEPARTURES.

Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 943, 4 August 1871, Page 2

DEPARTURES.

Hokitika.— August 3, Charles Edward, and Murray, for Grey.

The p.s Charles Edward, aud the s.s Murray return«d from Hokitika on yesterday forenoon's tide. Crossing the Hokitika bar they received a Bevere dressing, but shipped scarcely any water while running in here. The Charles Edward will leave this day at noon for Westport and Nelson. The s.s Waipara returned to Hokitika on Wednesday night, from Okarito, having been unable to enter that porb in consequence of the bad state of the bar. There was also a heavy sea on along the coasb. The schooner Northern Light, from Melbourne, arrived in the Hokitika roadstead on Wednesday afternoon. Mr C. F. Varley, the distinguished electiidan of the Atlantic Telegraph Company, has lately broached what Nature calls "The novel speculation that some earthquakes may be doe to subterranean lightning," but which, however true it may oe, is not novel in the sense of being new or origira 1 , as a p ecisely simitar theory was held in the last century by some French savants, and that so firmly that they proposed, in order to guard against the ill effects of these disturbances, to erect lightning-rods to carry away the superfluous electricity. But be the question of priority what it may, there can be no doubt as to the ingenuity of the speculation, or to its importance, should it be well founded. Mr Varley observed, a few moments before and a few moments after the earthquake of the 17th of March, powerful positive electrical currentsrushingtowards England through the two Anglo-American telegraph cables, broken near Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. The French Atlantic cable was disturbed at the same time, and so were many of the English land lines, but the only observations as to the direction of the current were those made by Mr Varley in the broken Anglo-American^ telegraph cables. This observer "imagines" that, as the centre of the earth is approached, a layer of hot dried rock may be found, which is an insulator, while the red-hot mass lower down is a conductor."