EARTHQUAKES IN CHRISTCHURCH.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 516, 12 June 1869, Page 2

EARTHQUAKES IN CHRISTCHURCH.

(From the Lyttclton Times.) Between four and five o'clock on Saturday morning, a loud subterranean noise was heard, which continued for upwards of a minute, and was accompanied by a slight tremor of the earth. At five seconds past eight o'clock a severe shock was experienced, its direction being from south to north and the vibration continuing for fully twenty seconds. Great alarm was caused in the more populous thoroughfares, and especially in the vicinity of stone buildings. While houses were still shaking, and chimneys falling in

almost every direction, men, women, and children were rushing terrorstricken into the open air. Several slight disturbances were noticed at later periods during the day. The damage to property was fortunately confined to the former, and there are few quarters in Christchurch in which evidences of the shock are absent. In most cases, however, the damage is confined to rent or fallen chimneys. The Government Buildings, more especially the new Council Chamber, have perhaps suffered most. The tops of two of the old chimneys have fallen down; the coping over tho main entrance to the Council Chamber, and the apex stone of the gable over the retiring room, are shaken back. One stone in the arch over the Bellamy staircase is displaced, and there are a few fractures in the plastering. The new offices of the New Zealand Insurance Company, in Hereford street, have sustained damage, and so have the offices belonging to Messrs Matteson and Co., close by. The offices of the new Zealand Trust and Loan Company, also in Hereford street, are damaged, and one side of a small brick house on the town reserves, standing in a road running between Madras and Manchester streets north, has been shaken comeompletely out. The spire of St John's Church has been damaged, and the new Supremo Court buildings now in the course of erection are somewhat shaken. Few private houses in town have altogether escaped. Some of the shop-keepers, particularly those in the china and glass trade, have heen heavy losers. Messrs "Weir Brothers, in Colombo street, china and glass merchants, estimate their loss at £IOO. Most of the chemists and druggists are losers to some extent, Messrs Cook and Ross being the greatest. In several hotel bars the bottles fell from the shelves in a perfect shower, causing considerable loss. Mr F. J. Garrick's chimney fell through the roof, breaking sveral pier glasses, and Mr Hennah, Avonside, is a very heavy loser. Most of the bakers had their ovens rendered temporarily useless. The shocks were felt in Lytte lton, and also in the neighbourhood of Wellington.