PAST EARTHQUAKES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5457, 5 August 1929, Page 4

PAST EARTHQUAKES.

NEW ZEALAND’S RECORDS. The central area of New Zealand, comprising North Canterbury, North Westland, Nelson, Marlborough, and Wellington, is definitely liable to earthquakes, which have been recorded there since the earliest days of European Settlement. Various wellmarked geological fault-lines have been located by geologists, particularly along the North Canterbury coast. Others exist in the northern region of the Southern Alps and near Wellington. The first earthquake of any magnitude since pre-European days occurred in October, 1848. It was felt from Taranaki to Marlborough, but was most severe at Wellington, where three persons were killed. Only four brick buildings in the then very new town escaped damage. The citizens, who, being recent arrivals from Britain, had no experience of such pheomena, were greatly alarmed, and Lieutenant-Governor Eyre detained all the vessels in the harbour to reassure them and provide means of flight if necessary. Coastline Lifted Bodily. A more severe and in many ways remarkable earthquake occurred on February 23, 1855. Apparently it was centred very close to Wellington, for afterwards portions of the coastline were found by the naval surveying schooner Pandora to have been permanently raised about two feet. One effect was to convert the Te Aro Flat, now in the heart of Wellington, from a swamp to a area of comparatively dry ground. For some hours after the most severe shock the tide rose and fell every 20 minutes with more than the amplitude of a spring tide, but the following day scarcely any rise and fall was noticable. The shock did much damage, the Government offices being completely wrecked, but as a few brick buildings had been erected since 1848, the loss was not so severe as it might have been. The earthquake was very local in effect and was felt only slightly in Canterbury and Taranaki. Wellington was severely shaken once more in 1868, and Christchurch which had been little troubled in the first 30 years of .its existence, suffered shock in 1881. Some masonry fell from the lately-erected stone spire of the cathedral. The Cheviot Earthquake. A much more severe earthquake, centred apparently in the Amuri district, came at four o”clock on the morning of September 1, 1888. Five shocks were noted in half an hour, and the first of them brought down 26ft of the Christchurch Cathedral spire. Fortunately the stones crashed into the church grounds and the building was not damaged. The bronze cross was left hanging, and was retrieved. The same earthquake did much harm to country homesteads and brought down great falls of rock from cliffs along the Sumner-Lyttel-ton road. . J One of the worst visitations in New Zealand history was the Cheviot earthquake of November 16, 1901. This occurred at a quarter to eight in the morning. A series of very severe shocks continued for nearly two days, reducing the inhabitants of Cheviot township to a state of terror. Scarcely a house was left habitable, roads were blocked by landslides, and obvious geographical faults were left on hillsides, where the strata had slipped five or six feet. One death resulted, a baby being smothered in the ruins of a sod house. The damage was estimated at £20,000, and relief funds had to be opened for the distressed settlers. A Second Visitation. Tn Christchurch the Cathedral spire, which had been restored in the interval, was cracked in two places, and the upper stones were moved a foot out of place. About two-thirds of the actual spire was afterwards taken down and replaced by a structure of wood covered with sheets of bronze. Westport apparently had no major earthquakes until February 23, 1913, when Westport suffered most. There were heavy falls of rock in the Buller Gorge, and the newly-erected post office building, which was wrecked recently, was cracked in several places, no harm was done in the coalmines, although the men below ground feared the worst. i A great deal of harm was done in; North Canterbury on the afternoon of Christmas Day, 1922. At Cheviot all. chimneys were razed, heavy landslides occurred, and there was general panic. At Waikari one wall of the stone vicarage collapsed, and at Glenmark a pinnacle from the churchtower crashed through the roof. Cornices fell from buildings in Christchurch, and a cross was dislodged from one of the Cathedral gables. Cricket Match Interrupted When the earthquake came a. cricket match was in progress between A. C. Maclaren’s English team, and the Canterbury eleven. It was a new experience to the Englishmen, who stopped the game and watched, the tai! chimneys of the gasworks and tramway power station swayingas if they might crash at any moment. It was estimated from the seismograph records that if the initial shock had been repeated within 10 or 15 seconds large buildings must have fallen in ruins. The Auckland province has remained free from really heavy earthquakes. although it contains areas of thermal and volcanic activity. The most severe shake of recent times occurred at Morrinsville on December 12, 1926. Several buildings were cracked, and the stones composing the war memorial obelisk were twisted. Tremors were felt at various times in the following year, and on November 7, 1927, there was a series of more severe shakes, which were felt from Cambridge to Tauranga. The Arthur’s Pass earthquake of March 9 is fresh in the memory of most people. This, although severe,

was fairly local in its effects. Heavy falls of rock came down in the Otira Gorge, but the railway tunnel was undamaged. The shock is considered to have originated in the heart of the Southern Alps. The last shock before the earthquake on Monday, June 17, was on May 8, and was felt most severely at Feilding and Hunterville, but its influence extended from Wanganui to Napier. Shop windows were broken and chimneys smashed in both the towns first mentioned, but the shocks were not strong enough to destroy buildings.