New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, November 8, 1848.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 341, 8 November 1848, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, November 8, 1848.

Now that the earthquakes appear to have ceased, and the settlers are in some degree relieved from the apprehension of further danger, their minds are engaged with plans of reconstruction, and of attempting to repair the damage which has been occasioned within the last few weeks. The question is continually recurring, what is the best plan to be adopted in building, and what materials most suitable to be employed ? The general impression appears to be that in future our buildings must be constructed of wood, and that they should not be more than one or two stories in height. It may be useful in" deciding this question to consider the method of building which obtains in some of those countries most subject to earthquakes. Perhaps these phenomena are experienced more frequently and more violently in South America than in any other region of the globe. In 1822 an earthquake destroyed the greatest part of Valparaiso ; in 1835 an earthquake, one of the most violent remembered in Chile, destroyed, the city of Concepcion, and the town of Talcahuano, besides doing otherwise an infinity of damage. In every year, earthquakes more or less severe are felt in Chile, so much so that if a year were to pass without the occui*rence of an earthquake, an apprehension would be entertained by the inhabitants that one of those violent shocks which in that country are found to be so destructive in their effects, would shortly happen. To return however to the subject with which we set out. In Concepcion and throughout the country the houses are generally one story high, and are either of wood and wea-ther-boarded, or the walls are built of unburnt bricks called adobes, which are about eighteen inches square, and two inches thick and are put together with clay instead of mortar. The walls are generally of the thickness of two adobes or about three feet thick. These adobes are used in Chile from from a belief that they yield to the motion of an earthquake, and are not so likely to be overthrown as materials of a more solid or unyielding nature. It must also be noted that the use of these adobes is peculiarly suited to the clear dry climate of Chile, where throughout the greatest part of the year it neverrains for months together. In Valparaiso,the CustomHouse, a large building fronting the sea, about two hundred feet long and the walls thirty feet high, is built in this way ; the principal church, the wails of which are as high as the Custom House, is also built of adobes and plastered. Both these buildings have lofty wooden towers, that of the church is about one hundred feet high. In Valparaiso, particularly in the quarter near the Custom House where the principal streets j are situated, there is very little level ground, the town being built on a narrow strip of land between the hills and the sea ; the houses are mostly two and three stories high ; the ground story is occupied as a store, and the walls are built of adobes in , the manner above described ; the stories above the ground floor'are built of wood and are the private residences of the merchants, ■though in other parts of the town, as on i Monte Alegre (Mount Pleasant) behind the Custom House, the -houses which are mostly occupied by English residents are of wood $ad one story high. In St. lago the capital of Chile, which s,tands ontheplainofMaypo at the foot, of 'the Andes, nearly, the whole

of the houses are built of adobes, and with few exceptions are only one story high, But in this city are buildings of more solid construction and of more durable materials. The cathedral in the Grand Plaza is of stone, and rests on a solid terrace of stone, the walls are lofty, and about five feet thick ; the principal churches in St. lago are also built of stone with heavy stone towers. Thereis also a brick bridge of several arches over the river that runs through St. lago, which was built towards the end of the last century when Chile was under the domination of Old Spain. In these hasty notes, chiefly from recollection, it will be observed that in the country to which iwe have been referring, which has suffered the most violent shocks of earthquakes, the materials chiefly used in building, as approved by-the -experience of the inhabitants, are either un« burnt bricks or wood. We were informed by a highly intelligent foreigner at Talcahuano who had resided upwards of twenty years in the country, and whose wooden house was not thrown down by the great earthquake of 1835, that he considered a wooden house of one story high, well" framed together, as quite safe in the most viplent shocks of earthquake.' The principal-mill at Talcahuano belonging to the person referred to, which was built immediately after the great earthquake, is a framed weatherboarded building five ' stories high, the machinery being turned by an overshot wheel thirty feet in diameter. We may gather from the above notes, the method of building in use in a country subject to more violent and frequent earthquakes than New Zealand, as well as from our recent experience, that the best protection against the dangers to be apprehended from earthquakes is to be found in wooden buildings. But it does not follow that therefore buildings -of more durable materials may not be attempted, on the contrary we have seen that buildings at St. lago, some of which have lasted more than a century, have been built of stone.- But in such buildings the materials are of the best description, and the works have been most carefully performed. It ie almost superfluous to say that this has not been the case with many of the buildings in this town which have suffered from the recent earthquakes. To refer only to.-one point ; the common practice of making mortar in Wellington has been to compound it of clay and lime. Now it is well known that in agriculture lime is commonly used on clayey soils as a manure, from its property of pulverizing or breaking up these soils. What principle of cohesion then can exist in mortar thus compounded ? Wherever bricks are used the mortar should always be compounded of good lime and sharp river sand, and though wooden buildings of two and three stories high may be safe from such earthquakes as are experienced in this country, the higher the buildings the greater care should be exercised in framing them strongly together, and making the sides fully equal to the weights to be supported.

On Sunday afternoon the new church at the Hutt was opened for the celebration of Public Worship, when Divine Service, was performed by thie Bey. R. Cole, to a very^iumerous and attentive congregation, not less than two hundred and fifty persons' having been present on the occasion. The building, which stands on a picturesque spot not very far from the Hutt Bridge, is of wood, being about thirty-six feet long by eighteen feet wide, and was erected in a substantial manner by Mr., Hart Udy from a design by Mr. Cridland. It is. similar in. some of its leading features to the Te Aro Church, having a turret at the west end, and 'a' triple window at the east end, with pointed windows at the sides, but ' is- without trans,epts_ or other projections. The ground' 'on .which the church stands was, given by Captain Daniell. .

Horticultural -Society. — At a meeting of the Committee of the Horticultural Society, held on Monday evening at Barrett's Hotel, the next exhibition of. the t Society was fixed for Tuesday the 21st instant. At the General Meeting in March last, the exhibition \vas decided to be held on the first Tuesday in November, but owing to the events of the last few weeks it has been deemed advisable to postpone the exhibition for a fortnight; - \