PREVIOUS SHOCKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 224, 21 September 1932, Page 7

PREVIOUS SHOCKS.

ORIGIN - IN BASS STRAIT. cablegram published on September 5 reported:—"The whole southern portion of Victoria was shaken by earth tremors yesterday (Saturday, September 3). The shock was particularly noticeable in the metropolitan area, but little damage was done." Detail information received by mail, however, reveals that the so-called "earth tremors" originating from a line of fault in Bass Strait, shook the whole of Southern Victoria and more, into a state of alarm at about 4.22 a.m., the effect sweeping inland, rocking houses for hundreds of miles.

The 'quake was not a momentary affair; the seismograph recording the first sudden movement, followed by three other jolts. It was estimated that the seat of the slip in the sea-bed was about 70 miles from Melbourne. In the country householders thought a gale had struck their homes, and in the hotels in Melbourne night porters rushed along to the bars and kitchens to ascertain the cause of the noise created by glassware and crockery. The man on duty in the tall Eastern tower felt a sickening swaying beneath his feet, and. until the reverberations ceased thought the foundations were giving way.

Professors of the Geological School at Melbourne University explained that the shakes were "a continuation of the movement which separated Tasmania from the mainland," and there was nothing to cause anxiety for the future. The settlement of the floor of Bass Strait was still going on.