'QUAKE FORECASTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 121, 24 May 1935, Page 14

'QUAKE FORECASTS.

RELIABILITY CLAIMED

CHRISTCHURCH MAN'S INVENTION

After 1.") years of research and pain-l staking tests, Mr. R. A. Kirkwood, of Christchurch, took an innocent little bottle, tilled with a liquid in which there were three definite layers, into tin. "Times" office this week. Mr. Kirkwood claims that the changes in the shape and consistency of the top and second layers will tell with unfailing accuracy whether then.- will be rain or wind, whether there will be sunshine and, most important of all, perhaps, the time and location of the next earthquake. The bottom layer of liquid in the bottle is of a bright amber colour. The second, and largest, layer, is cloudy and has a greyish tint. When that layers upper surface climbs into a little mound on one side of the bottle, look out for earthquakes, says Mr. Kirkwood. O:i Monday the top layer was cloudy— which means'that thore is r.o rain in the offing —and shot through with small specks— that means wind. When the top layer is a bright amber there is rain coming soon. Mr. Kirkwood, who till recently has lived on the West Coast, claims that lip has predicted every earthquake in this part of the world for many years. He studied for a long time under Dr. Gaze, a well-known experimental chemist, and he himself evolved the formula for the liquid which gives such important news of coming weather conditions. To Calculate Position. This liquid, its inventor explains, hns an extraordinary sensitivity to light. In order to locate the position of a foretold earthquake, sets of sixteen bottles of the liquid are used, at points as far apart as Wellington and Christchurch. They are grouped, and when an earthquake is indicated, the direction of the indications in each bottle is plotted in relation to the points of the compass, the readings at the two different points are compared, and the location of the coming quake calculated. Mr. Kirkwood claims that he forecast the Murchison earthquake with absolute accuracy. In October of last year lie predicted an earthquake for Christchurch on November 10, and it happened exactly as he foretold. He has had accurate predictions as far afield as Japan. As it depends on light rays, the set has to be placed in a high, unobstructed position. The inventor, after making sure by long experiment that his discovery is accurate, is now looking for a market for his invention. It is certain to meet with the interest of weather authorities and physicists, and if its powers are all that are claimed, it may revolutionise the present process of forecasting.