The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 257, 15 November 1848, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

\',e jiisl and ie.u not: Let all the ei.ds tliou aiiu-.'t at, be thy Country's, Hiv fion's, and Tmtli's.

WEDN ILSDA \, NUViiMBEU 15, 1848-

Tun anhal of the Southern overland Mail, on Satuiday evening, puts us in possession of the most disastrous intelligence from Port Nicholson. One of those appalling convulsions of nature —an eaiihquakc— had shaken the settlement to its foundations, successive shocks making a compaiative ruin of the thriving town of Wellington — ciushing its most substantial private duellings and public edifices into ruinous masses, and paialyzing the minds of its inhabitants with a new and unwonted, hut, we trust, transitory tenoi. The details of the wreck of piopeity, and of the mortal anxiety for the consequences of each succeeding shock are of \he most painful charactei. It is, nevertheless, a matter of deep thankfulness to Almighty God, that, in this wild elemental war, but three lives had been made its sacrifice. In addition to the despatches of Lieut.-Go-vernor Eyre, and the account of the sad catastrophe, taken fiom the New Zealand Spectator of the 18th uH., and which will be found in another column, we have been favoured with a \aiiety of pihate intelligence which we hasten to lay befoie our readeis. The statement that immediately follows is contained in an exLiact from a letter to a gentleman in a piominent situation here. It is under date, Wellington, 2 1st October. " Here we are, all in the middle, or, please God, just at the end of a series of vollies of earthquakes, which have lenewed and outdone all the consternation and alarm ever felt from any cause by unfortunate New Zealand settlers. The town looks at present as if it had been bombarded. Brick buildings all either down on the giound in heaps of uibbish, or cracked and shaken so much as to be uninhabitable. " The latter great shocks seemed to seize the countiy as a terrier does a lat, with an almost spiteful determination to choke existence out ot it. By good Proudonce there have been only thiee lives lost — those of Barrack Seijeant Lovcl of the 65th regiment, and two of his childien, all, you see, belonging to one family. This is shocking for the widow. The people here are flocking on boaid one or ttvo of the s>Mps in the harboui, but we have embargoed their going till times mend. " The three great shocks we had came at exactly legular intervals of thirty seven hours, leaving the eaith still trembling, with occasional shocks of various degrees of severity or wildness •, you may judge, therefore, of the extreme anxiety with which people awaited the termination of the thiity seven houis, as each of the three previous shocks had been considered more intense than those before it. The time, (between 7 and 8 of Friday evening, the 20th) passed ovei, however, with nothing but a slight shock, and hope began to revive. Ido not think we have done with them yet, but I trust we shall have none so severe as the three above mentioned. All shops have been shut — all business is suspended. For the rust days every one looked pale with consternation. We had a day of fast and humiliation appointed which made yesterday (Fiiday, 20th October) appear exactly like a mo;>t devout Sunday. " Every one is taking down their chimneys. Theie is scaice one standing in the whole town. The second and thud stacks in several places demolished. The fire places also." From another source — a letter of the 23rd, 1o the Rev. James W\tkin from his son, a youth of sixteen, we glean the following particulars :—": — " Sunday, the 15th of October was a very cold, windy, and rainy day. Mr. Creed preached in our church in the morning and evening, and little did I think his were the last seimons I should ever hear there. We went to bed at our usual hour, but, at about 20 minutes to 2 o'clock of the 16th, I was awakened by finding the house rocking and lolling, so that I could scarcely keep in bed. Will was awake and asked me if I knew what it was. I thought directly it was an earthquake. Never shall I forget when my Mother came up and said the Chapel was split. After the fiist shock, we had shock after shock all day, and now and then in the night. Tuesday the 17th was a beautiful day. A little after 3 o'clock in the afternoon we had a slight shock, which was almost immediately succeeded by another of awful violence. I could scarcely keep my legs. It seemed as if the place would have turned right over. The end of Tyser and Waitt's large brick building came down with a lenible ciash, as did also the store of Mr. Fitz_L^^L^±__ TUn r'linvinl urnc glintfprPfi mll ell

and all safe. Poor Mr. Lovel was standing down Parish-street, and his two children were playing about when the shock came. The end of Mr. Fitzherbeit's store fell upon him, and broke and shattered his leg below the knee : a building, on the other side, fell upon his two children, killing one and injuring the other so severely that it died at 11 o'clock that night. For himself, poor man, lie held out until Friday when he calmly fell asleep, departing without a sigh or a tear. Next day he was interred with the accustomed military honours. We slept on Tuesday in a tent near Mr. Ironside's. During Wednesday, which was a cold, rainy, day, we had several slight shocks ; but, about four o'clock on Thursday morning we had another awful one which took the Chapel down level with the giound. Not a brick, however, touched our house, the walls falling mostly inwards, or on the other side where it threw down the school house. Captain Rhodes' warehouse has fallen and some thousands of pounds worth of goods are lost. One end of Ridgway Hickson & Go's store lies prostrate, and the building is all so much shattered that if not blown or shaken down, it must be taken down. There is scarcely a chimney standing. " On Thursday night we went up to the hills near Mr. Tankersley's upland farm. We made a fine fire, and none of us expeiienced any bad effects fiom the exposure. On that night the ground appeared to be all of a tremble. "On Friday we had a solemn fast. Many attended seivice who were strangers to God's house. We had service near the Kirk, for our chapel, Mr. Green's, and Mr. Woodward's, are all down. The shocks during the day were slight, as well as on Saturday, on both of which evenings we slept at home. "On Sunday, we had two or three smart shocks, and to-day, (Monday), since I have commenced writing, we have had several. "No business is doing. People are talking of leaving the place. The loss is estimated at about £40,000. Messrs. Rhodes, Fitzherbert, J. M. Taylor, P. M. Hervey, and Hickson, are amongst the heaviest sufferers. " Shocks have been expeiienced, but with much less severity, at Wanganui, Nelson, Cloudy Bay, Queen Charlotte's Sound, &c. The BLUNDEixhas come into poitfrom Otakou, which she left on Wednesday, after we had had our heaviest shocks, but they did not feel them. Mr. and Mrs. Fitzherbert are going to Sydney, and others are talking of leaving. We have in port H.M.S. Fly, barques Subraon, Clara, and Blunder, — Sarah Ann and Bee, and some coasters. The Lieutenant-Governor has issued orders that no vessel shall quit the harbour, until these convulsions have ceased." To the above painful catalogue of calamity, we have, now, to add, some other and equally distressing particulars, obtained from Captain Petre, of the schooner Carbon, which arrived at Manukau on Friday evening, the 10th instant. Captain Petre sailed from Wellington on the 30th ultimo, up to which date shocks continued to be felt. They were becoming more frequent, but at the same time, moie slight. In consequence of adverse winds, the Carbon was obliged to put into Queen Charlotte's Sound, wheie Captain Petre received intelligence of an eruption having taken place at Wairau, on the plain close to the river. The reflection jwas distinctly visible at Wellington ; but the inhabitants were unaware, when the Carbon sailed, of the locality of the eruption, though perfectly cognizant of the fact of an eruption having taken place — report said at Tongariro. On the Middle Island, the shocks were very violent; and some of the natives were so alarmed, that they fled to their homes at Waikanae. Rauparaha was in the neighbourhood, and during the consternation, had his leg severely bruised. At Nelson the shocks were felt with much less violence than at Wellington— only a few chimnies being thrown down, and the Wesleyan church, (a brick structure,) slightly shaken. The shocks continued to be experienced in the Sound, during the schooner's stay there ; and on the 7th instant, whilst at Tatanaki, where she touched, several slight shocks and vibrations occurred. The eaithquake was not felt to the southward of Akaroa, nor yet on the east coast of the Northern Island. The barque Subraon, took on board a number of passengers at Wellington, nearly fifty in all, amongst whom were Mr. Fitzherbert, one of the principal merchants, with his family, and all his goods. Whilst beating out of the haibour, on her intended trip to Sydney, in working through Chaffer's passage, towards dusk, with the wind at south-east, the ship missed stays, and not having room to wear, went ashore abreast of the pilot's house. All the passengers were landed in safety, and a quantity of oil and bone was saved. The ship however, became a total wreck. The Harriet Leatiiart, from Manukau, with the Revds. John Hohbs, W. Kirk, and G. Stannard, Wesleyan missionaries on board, was driven on shore at the north spit of the entrance to Wanganui harbour. Passengers and property all saved, and the vessel beached. The Maid of the Mill had not beenheaid of for five and twenty days ; she was last seen anchored under Albalioss Point, between Taranaki and Kawhia. The Berenicia, 120 days from London,

on the 4th instant, with English emigrants, for Otakou. She brought a mail, which the Carbon conveyed to this place. It gives us no later European news than that which we have already published. The Careon sailed from Taranaki on the 7th. Whilst lying there, one of her hands, a young man, named George Ciaun, in a rash attempt to swim on shore with his clothes on, was diowncd. The body was found on the beach on the following morning. We close our long and attlicting list of casualties with a letter from a correspondent, dated Waimate, Taranalri South, 19th October. Itwillshowthe extent and influence of thefeaiful dispensation with which our unfortunate brethren of the South have been so sorely visited. God giant that their hearts may be nerved to bear the blow — and that their energy may suffice to obliterate, in due lime, all traces of its painful memory. For, however terror of a new, unaccustomed, and appalling element of destrucI lion may unman the few, we cannot for a moment suppose that men, and Englishmen, will succumb under an infliction to which many nations arc periodically subjected — or abandon a fair and feililc province because of a convulsion, hitherto unknown lo any extent, and which may not occur in a century, if ever, again. The awful eaithquake which swallowed up men and mansions, in 1755, has never since desolated Lisbon — and though castles and palaces were then engulphcd, succeeding generations have not been intimidated from erecting others. We trust, therefore, that, eie this, confidence is being restored, and that the timid have become reassured. " God moves in a mysteiious way," and his "wonders" can be " performed" as fearfully in other lands as in those of New Zealand. "We have had very remarkable weather here. On the 14th instant, the atmosphere was quite hot and sultry in the morning ; but in the evening it was very cold, and a tremendous gale set in from the south-east, which threatened our premises with destruction. In the night it blew a perfect hurricane. About two o'clock in the morning of the 15th oiu house tiembled under us, moving from cast lo west foi several seconds. It was an earthquake. It was felt all down the coast, and was most alarming in Wanganui. Thiorighont the 15th the wind blew without abatement, and I feared that our house, which is \eiy fragile, composed of reed and rush, would give way. The -sea boiled like a pot. Showers of foam blew across our premises, like showers of snow at home in winter. Our fences and outhoues weie laid prostrate. Everything looked terrific along the coast, and had there been any vessels at hand they must have been diiven ashoie. On the 17th there was anothei slight shock of an eaithquake ; but this morning, about seven o'clock, our house trembled and rocked, as on the 15th. The weather is now calm, and the sea, which raged so violently, quite still. The mission bell in-land rung from the motion on the 15th, as if struck for worship. I felt a solemn dread while the eaith appeared reeling under my feet, and could only ejaculate the words, 4 Gieat God, how terrible art tliou !' " Can any of your correspondents account for these phenomena ? " Yours truly, " William Woon." By reference to our own private diary, we glean the following particulars : — Saturday, the 14th October, in Auckland, proved a cloudy, murky, morning, and the day a streaming one. Sunday, the 15th, was moist and miserable Monday, the 16th, tolerably fine. Tuesday, the 17th, a gusty morning, but a remarkably fine day. Wednesday, the 18th, a raw, wet, and blustery morning, increasing to a perfect hurricane at W.N.W. during the day, compelling the Louisa from Sydney to anchor off the North Head, and causing H.M.S. Dido, riding with a foul anchor, to drive upwards of a mile. The hurricane raged with unabated violence throughout the night, becoming more moderate at daylight of Thursday, the 19th, but accompanied with heavy squalls of rain. By comparing these memorandums with the description of the wealhei given by Mr. Watkins junior, it will be percaived that there was a great similarity in the atmosphere here and at Wellington on the days of its greatest afflictions. From the Taranaki intelligence in our own paper of the 25th of October, we copy as follows :—": — " The shock of an eaithquake was experienced at New Plymouth, at half-past one of the morning of the 16th. The princi- , pal shock lasted for two minutes, but, during three quarters of an hour, there were thirteen distinct vibrations. The effect is said to have been most alarming, but no damage had been ascertained to have taken place."

Since the above was written, we have seen a copy of the "Wellington Independent" of the 1 8th. That Journal affords us no additional particulars, fuilher than those in which its Editor wantonly and, we must say unworthily speculates : — Exempti Gratia — " Since our last the whole district of Port Nicholson, (and in all probability the eniiie Colony, if not the other islands of the Pacific !) so far as we have leceived intelligence from, has been moved hither and thither, by a terrible though grandly magnificent, agency of

We should be loath, at a moment like this, to stigmatize such a paragiaph in the mannci it deserves. Its inventive aim to induce a belief that the whole colony is involved in the sad calamity which has befallen a part, is one of the most malevolent predications we have ever been called upon to contradict. As to any aerial" intelligence," whereon to found such a "probability "" — we can only say.it is an insult to the understanding of his readers to suppose them capable of being gulled by so palpable a draught of the wiiter on his own mischievous imagination. Foituuately the entire colony has not been so visited j and, we trust to prove, that whatever the rivalry existing betwixt Auckland and Wellington, it is on the part of the former, an honest, an upright, and a manly one — such as cannot legard any injury inflicted upon the sister settlement other than a calamity entailed upon heiself. Our prosperity to be Colonial must be mutual ; for we cannot be legitimately advanced by theretrogiession of a poit and province so essential to the well being of New Zealand, as one so central and so fertile as Port Nicholson. We publish, in our columns of to day, a letter fiom " A Colonist," indicathe of the feeling, universal in Auckland, touaids our nnfoitunate compati iots of the South. We enteilain not the most i emote desire to check thp generous feeling there expressed ; quite the contiary. — Our aim, in due time, will be to give it all the currency and vitality in om power ; but, for the present, we deem such a movement premature. When we are more fully instructed of the wants and necessities, of those who may stand in need of our benevo lence: — when we can learn the when,the where, and the how it may be rendered most accepta ble, we shall not be slow in the cause of humanity. Whatever the Colonial defects —an ope?} handed charity is pieeminently the Colonial vii - tue : — witness the repeated largesse of Austialasia to the suffering Irish. " A Colonist' 7 may therefore, rest perfectly assured that the question will neither be coldly, selfishly, not apathetically considered ; but that the desire will be, not how much can we make by the sufferers, but how can we best minister to their sufferings'?

The investiture of his Excellency the Govkr-nor-in-Ciiief with the Order of the Rath, is appointed to take place, within the Grounds of the late Government House, on Satuiday next, at one, p.m. — admission to which is to be obtained through tickets to be issued by Mr. Co ah's. We trust that a fine day may attend the celebration of this interesting cciemony, which will, no doubt, be performed with al). the biilliancy that circumstances -w ill permit. If we turn to the page of history we shall find that this is not the first investiture of the Bath at which the 58th Regt. have played a conspicuous part. On the23id of Aptil, 1753, they constituted honoured and honourable accessories to the decoration of Sir Gilbert Euott, for his unparalleled defence of Gibraltar. To that heroic triumph, the gallant Rutlanders were nobly instrumental, achieving foi themselves a lasting and a merited reputation -, — a reputation, in many a subsequent hard contested field, gloriously sustained. Fot a description of such spectacles we refer oiu sight seers to Drinkwater's " Siege of Gibraltar," contained in the eighth part of the Colonial and Home Libraiy.