THE REV. MR. FAIRCLOUGH INTERVIEWED.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12483, 20 April 1906, Page 8

THE REV. MR. FAIRCLOUGH INTERVIEWED.

(SPFXIAI, TO "THE TRESS.") WELLINGTON, April 10. In the ooume cf an interview with a '•Post" reporter, the Rev. P. W. Fairclough. who devotes a largo amount cf time" to studying earthquakes and thnir contributing causes, said : —"lt is well known 'that the surface of the globe has its regions or greater and k»>s "-tability. The chief seismic re<ncns are Japan and tlio Aleutians to the north, and the Philippines to tnc south. Central America, the Caribbean S?a, Chili and Pern. Greece ItaJy an:l Asia Minor, and so forth. Between the AlaskaAleutian, system «nd the coaf-t of California, ie a pretty stable region, and earthquakes are infrequent, but irom Cap? " Mendocino southwards liability to sliock increases. "The cause of earthquakes,"' he stated, '"is to be sought in the earth it-elf, not in the heavenly bodies. The moon .a:i;l the .sun may be slight contributors, mainly as trigger-pullers to release the strain arising from other cause.--. There is no other body near enough to have any effect. It may be taken es a rulo that no body external to the earth can contribute to earthquake*-. iiiilpss it first contributes to ticLil disturbance. The strain upon tiie earth's crust arising from cooling and shrinking is. b?yor>d doubt, the primal cause of shocks, but it shows it-olf in 'i- vera I different ways. When fp-iat ira>Kv> of strata Miap and fr-ac-tuiv, creuincr a fault, one «ide at least ciia'i!!,?< ;t. ; elevation to the extent, sometimes, of ten feet or more. Peril ips. rometimes, there is h horizontal shift' ofv several and the line oP ti-artnre* and displacement can l>o traced for score* of mHe=. Probably this is the mart destructive class of shock. the fault is once «et up, t!ier.» will probably he occasions i causing kss terrible, shcek*. "Violent shocks are aL«o with vojeanrvs. hut the-e are local cis compared wit!i the c\.\-< <:f s.!i:.ck just mi :uio!iod. It. is tlir> area rove red by tin- s-hock ihai i- its cliivf tvrror. Vol-

canic shocks aro eeWom potent for mischief at a great distance. The; shifting of great masses cf silt in the pioceeses of centuries from the land to t!:t> sea bottom by the rivers, is thought by some to be a causo of strain on the earth's crust. This theory, however, is not gaining ground. As to the tides, as already said, they may act in favourable places as trigger-pullers, but king and careful observation, and the tabulation of numerous shocks, failed to provo any regular influence of the moon."