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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 984, 3 October 1868, Page 2

Sir, — The great earthquake having occurred at Arica about 5. p.m. on the 13th Augu9t, and the wave having reached New Zealand about 4 a.m. on the 15th, it will I think, be found that it took about nineteen hours to travel the distance, moving at the rate of 6j degrees of longitude per hour. It must be remembered that the 13th in America is the 14th in New Zealand, as the well known effect of sailing round the world is to gain or lose a day as we go east or west — therefore the earthquake really occurred on the 14th, according to our calendar. Arica is about 120 degrees of longitude from New Zealand, and, as the earth takes just eight hours to revolve 120 degrees, it will be about 9 a.m. in New Zealand when it is 5 p.m. in Arica, the sun rising to them eight hours before it rises to us. It was, therefore I reckon, about 9 a.m. here on the 14th August (by our calendar) when the shock occurred at Arica. If the wave reached us at 4 a.m. on. the 15th, it would have been nineteen hours travelling the distance. — I am, &c., Q.E. D. Napier, October 2, 1868, ,