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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 953, 20 June 1868, Page 3

Queensland. — "We (Courier) learn that Major S. W. Blackall, the newly-ap-pointed Governor of Queensland, arrived in England in March last. No official despatches "with reference to the time at which he shall probably reach here have been received, but in a communication dated from London,, from Mr. Matthew Henry Marsh, his Excellency is informed that in all probability Major Blackall -will leave England for this colony by the May mail packet, so that he may be expected to arrive here in July. Sickness in the Waibatj. — Another victim to that malignant disease, diptheria, which has of late been so prevalent at Blenheim and on the plain, has been carried to the grave a few days ago. The Rev. Archibald Russell, Presbyterian Minister for the Province of Marlborough, will be regretted by the many friends among and out of his congregation, who are 'so deeply lamenting his loss. The dreaded disease seems not to abate in virulency, and several children and a few grown-up people have been laid low by its influence, since the commencement of the season. The Rev. Mr. Sutar is daily expected from England to resume Mr. Russell's duties. Peeseevation of Buildings fjhom the Effects of Eaethquakes. — At a meeting of the Society of Arts, Mr. David Stevenson read a paper on certain aseismatic arrangements, designed for the preservation i of structures in countries subject to earthquakes. As the subject is new and interesting, we now "subjoin the substance of. Mr. Stevenson's paper. Having noticed the observations made under the auspices of the Royal Society of London by Mr. Robert Mallet, C. E., on the great Neapolitan earthquake of 1867, Mr. Stevenson stated that his attention had been directed to the matter, not as a speculative question, but by the Government, as a problem ot' practical engineering. In 1858, a treaty was entered into with the. Japanese, that their ports were to be opened to British traffic ; while, for the safety of our mariners, the coast of Japan was to bo efficiently lighted and buoyed. The Japanese applied to the Government of this country to advise them as to what was necessary to light the coast, the difficulty consequent on the frequent earthquakes which occur in Japan, (sometimes once a fortnight for months together) being 23ointed out. The Board of Trade, in remitting the whole subject to Messrs. Stevenson for their advice, specially directed attention to this new feature in engineering. Mr. Stevenson explained the device he had proposed for rendering buildings aseismatic, and illustrated it by diagrams and models. The new construction is based on the principle of breaking the continuity between the earth, which is affected by the shock, and the superstructure which rests on its surface; and the break is effected by the aseismatic joint, which in the case of lighthouse apparatus consists in placing the iron table on which the apparatus rests on balls of metal, working in cups formed in the under-side of the table. These balls rest in similar cups formed on the upper side of a lower table. When the lower table is affected by. a shock, it is at liberty to move freely, without affecting the apparatus above, which, by reason of its inertia, remains unaffected. The motion being qua qua versal, also renders its action the same from whatever direction the shock may come. Mr. Stevenson stated that the aseismatic action had been successfully tested by experiments made at Messrs. Milne's works on tables of the full size for a first-order lighthouse. It is known that in 1799, when the shipping trade was small compared to what it now is, that no fewer than seventy rtwo vessels were stranded in a single night in trying to reach the shelter of the Firth of Forth when no light marked the Bell Rock or other prominent dangers of the coast; and if our lights were now subject to sudden extinction, the same result would occur in an aggravated form. To such sudden extinction the lights about to be erected on the Japanese coast must necessarily be exposed, unless the buildings in which they are placed are rendered aseismatic. The Government have ordered the whole of the lights about to be constructed here for the Japanese Government to be made on the aseismatic principle ; and as its adoption is neither difficult nor costly, while it is very efficacious, there seems no reason why it should not ultimately be adopted for all architectural or domestic arrangements in countries subject to earthquakes of destructive character. It is nob improbable that the Japanese, who are an ingenious, mechanical people, will adopt it wherever it is applicable, ia lieu of the devices at present employed to lessen the disturbing action of the earthquakes by which they are so frequently j visited.— (Scotsman-, March 14, 1868.