[From the Government Gazette, Dec. 6 ]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 350, 9 December 1848, Page 3

[From the Government Gazette , Dec. 6 ]

Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, Ist December, 1848. HIS EXCELLENCY THE LIEUTE-NANT-GOVERNOR has been pleased to direct the publication of the following Reports for general information. By His Excellency's Command, Alfred Domett, Colonial Secretary.

Wellington, November 21st, 1848. Sir, — We have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yoar letter of the 25th October, informing us that it was the desire of His Excellency the Lieutenant- Governor that a Board should be appointed to examine arict report on the damage done in Wellington by the late earthquake, and further informing us that. Mr. Park had been chosen by the inhabitants as a member of the Board on their "part, and that the Council desired that Mr. St. Hill and. Captain Collinson should' act on the part of the Government. We beg to report that in compliance with that letter, we have examined the damaged buildings, and we herewith enclose a list of them. On that list is stated the manner in which the proprietors propose to repair their buildings, as they have informed us, and also what further measures we have, in some instances, " considered necessary. , In those cases where the damaged houses front the principal streets, and, in their present state, are 4 a nuisance and a danger to the public, we beg to recommend that one month be allowed to the proprietors to repair them. The particular repairs - required to such houses are marked in the list as being necessary t6 secure the public thoroughfares. In addition to the damages mentioned in the listT we find that almost every chimney in the Town has been broken down close to the roof. As this is a very dangerous nuiseuice'in a Town Composed chiefly of wooden houses, we consider it very desirable that the inhabitants should be obliged to build up the damaged chimmes to a safe height above the roof within* two months. The above forms the principal object of the Board ; in the course of executing which we beg to state we have been very much assisted by the list of the damaged houses, drawn up by Sergeant Mills of the Armed Police. ' . But we further beg to offer a few Remarks on the description of building best adapted to; stand shocks of earthquakes, which may be of use to persons about to build storehouses, ,which are desired to be more secure from fire than wooden houses, y We have observed that those brick buildings' have suffered least which have had jbqnd-timbers in the brickwork, or have been lined ;iwith wood, or* weatherboarded ; and agreat many gable-ends of houses, in which the wall plate has not been carried

through the gable, haVe been thrown down, without reference to any particular direction of the compass ; . and that the gable ends, of hipped roofs, on the contrary, have nojt suffered so much. And also that, in almost all the brickwork, the mortar has been of a very bad description, being composed of lime and clay, instead of lime and sand, as it should have been, by which there has been so little bond in, the brickwork, that many walls have been shaken down in single bricks. Tiie building w t e recommend for the above object,- and for greater security against fire than a weatherboarded house, is a strongwooden frame upon a brick foundation, filled in with bricknogging laid in mortar, and covered outside with strong laths and plaster, and inside with boards or plaster. But as it is probable that there will be always a great many houses in the Town built entirely of wood, we recommend it to the consideration of the inhabitants, that all future wooden .houses should be separated from each, other as much as possible, both as a security against fire, and because the i action of a shock is. sometimes of an undulating kind, that will take more f effect on a continuous line of buildings than on several detached small ones. With respect to your letter of the 30th October, requesting us to prepare a general Report upon the earthquake, to show the direction of the earth's motion during the shocks, and other incidents,- we beg to add a general account of the occurrence collected from the different statements that have arrived up to this time from the neighbouring places. The action of the earthquake appeavs to have extended from about the latitude of Banks' Peninsula to the latitude of New Plymouth, the strongest force of it having been in Cook's Strait, and in a N.W. and S.E direction from thence. It commenced on October 16th with a strong shock at lh. 30m. a.m. ; on the 17th there was a second at 4 p.m. ; on the 19th a third at 5 a.m. ; on the 24th there was a fourth at 2 p.m. These were all the strong shocks, but in the intervals there were a great number of smaller shocks, varying from 10 to 20 in the 24 hours; and these continued, gradually lessening in number and force, from the 16th to the 30th October ; and from that time to this there have been several more violent than the small shocks. The strong shocks appear to have been felt at all the settlements within the latitudes above mentioned, and, as far as we can determine, simultaneously ; but we have no certain data to decide this point ; and also with the same character, but less in force in proportion to the distance from Cook's Strait, and the line of N.E. and S.W. direction. The strong shocks were all of this character : — A sound like Subterranean thunder, accompanied with a vibration of the ground for a few seconds, "and then a quick .heaving oscillation of the earth, which, in a few seconds more died away with a quivering motion, the small shocks had not much of the heaving motion, but were more like -the firing of cannon immediately underneath the place ; they were sometimes so frequent that it sounded like a distant cannonade, while the eaith" appeared to tremble incessantly for 2 or 3 hours together. The direction of the noise, and the motion of the earth, appeared to some people to come from the Southward, to others from the Northward ; the buildings that have been damaged, are injured principally on the S.E. sides, and on the N.W. sides. A billiard table in Barrett's Hotel was moved an inch to the S.E. The shocks were felt at Nelson a little more violently than at Wanganui ; hardly at all at Hawke's Bay, and as strongly at Banks' Peninsula as at Wanganui. J Therefore we conclude the line of direction to be N.E. and S.W. There have been' a few cracks made in the ground at Wellington, and at the mouths of some small rivers on the N.W.coast, and at the mouth of the Wairau ; they are long narrow cracks, not larger than those caused by a long drought. On the 16th October, eight hours after the first shock, it being high water but neap tides, the tide rose in Wellington one foot above ordinary spring tides; but this might have been occasioned by a strd'ng S JE. wind, which, lasted the 15th andJL6th. On the 17th it was calm fiae.weather ; "on the 1 9th strong S.E, galej.on the 24th fine and calm. On the 19th and 20th the Aurora Australis •was very brilliant in the S.E.", but there was nothing to indicate it hadcany connection with the earthquake. Tbere,was'nochange in the Barometer or .Thermometer that would appear to have given -warning of a -shock. It appears to have been/ felt less jon the higher grounds, and upon rocky foundations. The last winter has been an unusually rainy season, with little wind, and this is"""a circumstance which is saijd, to be connected with earthquakes in South America. .- -

-It £ppear&,npt to., have been felt at- a " *\> Otakoa or Auckland. , , < :^\ Up to this date no eruption ha&rbeen heard of at any place within the limits of the earthquake as above stated. We have endeavoured to ascertain the amount of damage done to the Town, andr we consider that at the utmost, it is not more than £15,000 in property of all descriptions, and that includes £3500 of the Colonial Government, and £1000 of H.M. "Ordnance. We have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient Servants, , ; T. B. Collinson, Capt. R. E./ Robert Park, Civil' Engineer, Henry St. Hili^H. M. The Hon. the Gbtonial Secretary, &c.

Wellington, 17th October. 1848. Sir — I have the honour to enclose two reports from the Superintendents, and the usual ab- t streets -of labour employed and ' work done during the Quarter ending 30th September. 2 1848. — From the general abstract it will appear that the amount expended duringjthe^ Quarter, exclusive of the expense for tools" and stone, amounted to £1073 9s. Bd., to this a further sum of £121 13s. 7d. has to be added as the cost of the latter, which includes that of the punt for punting stone across the mill pond at Kaiwarra, and a fewother expenses connected with the road which could not properly be classed as contingencies to any particular portion of it. - This will give a total amount of £1195 3s. 3d. as the expenditure during the past Quarter. The work during this period was chiefly carried on on the Petoni Road, and on the .new line over the Mungaroa range, which is now ready for the party that will follow to construct the road. This I hope will be completed very early in the ensuing year, so that when the bush now fallen as far as the Pakuratahi river has been burnt off, the road can easily be made practicable as far as that river ; and if large parties were employed during the summer, I have little doubt but that we might get to the top of the Rimutaka range with the road before the close of the fine season. This is the first summer we have ever had any likelihood of retaining large parties of natives on the work ; and from the great number of applications, I am sure we might safely calculate on at least two hundred all through the summer, if we had the funds to employ them. They are chiefly Ngatiraukawas from Otaki, and most of them are now excellent workmen, very intelligent and orderly, and well conducted in their habits. They scarcely wear any but European clothing now, the blanket being seldom seen on them unless at night or early in the morning, and they are fast adopting all the customs of civilized life. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, T. H. Fitzgerald, Surveyor. The Hon. Colonial Sec, &c. &c, Wellington.