EARTHQUAKES.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 538, 3 August 1869, Page 2

EARTHQUAKES.

On the earthquake waves of last August, some clear and useful notes by Dr Hector are contained in the published proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. Dr itaast also contributes a very complete account of the phenomena presented by these waves on the Canterbury coast, and of the earthquake which was felt over so large an area of New Zealand two days afterwards. In common with Dr Hector, he rejects the theory that this earthquake was directly connected with that which originated the great waves of the 15th. From a careful comparison of observations, both of the time and directions of the shocks felt at different stations, from Hawkes' Bay to Hokitika, he concludes that " a broad belt, running in a N.E.

and S.'W. direction y.cross New Zealand, and following the direction of the central chain in both islands, appears to have been visited, nearly simultaneously, by the vibratory movement." For a shock of this character a mere volcanic outburst, however tremendous in itself, could offer no reasonable explanation. He looks upon it as one of the evidences of a " deep-seated disturbance " in or below the solid crust of the earth. The "abyss-dynamic" forces may, in a spot where the crust was weak, have found vent in such an eruption as is supposed to have caused the earthquake on the west coast of Sout America, and the great sea waves which accompanied that of the loth. Dr Hector appears less disposed to speculations on the causes of these gigantic phenomena. However, he also expresses his belief that the New Zealand earthquake of the 17th was not connected -with either of those wbicli devastated such large areas on the opposite shores of the Pacific, " but," he adds, " it is interesting to find that at that particular period the cause which gave rise to earthquakes was in activity at wide distances apart on the earth's surface, giving strong support to the view . . . . . that the primary cause of earthquakes is an influence external to our planet; so that earthquakes are to be considered the remote cause rather than the effect of volcanic phenomena."