EARTHQUAKE AT WELLINGTON.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume I, Issue 3, 1 March 1855, Page 33

EARTHQUAKE AT WELLINGTON.

EXTRACTS FROM COMMANDER DRURY'S REMARK BOOK. It is not my intention to narrate more than the general effects and disasters of this severe shock ; and firstly we have to be thankful to God, that amidst the general wreck of property but one life has been sacrificed, and not more than four others, seriously wounded, up to the time of our departure. This would appear astonishing to a person viewing the wreck of the houses, the mass of brickwork from the falling of the chimneys, dislodgement ci furniture, the fissures in the earth the extraordinary rise of tide, the entire destruction of some tenements, the collapse of others, the universal sacrifice of property, and the natural terror and despair among the inhabitants, all tending to far greater personal disaster than fortunately I have to! narrate. And here I would especially dwell! upon the benefit of the warning of 1848 to inhabitants, which under Providence, by causing them to occupy wooden houses, has been the salvation of many lives ; and the hour, too, was favourable to the escape of adults, who seized the children from beneath the tottering chimneys, themselves not having generally retired to bed. Few, if any, since 1848, have been rash enough to build a brick house ; the chimneys had generally been secured as well as possible by iron braces, &c., The most substantial twostoried house—Baron AlsdorfFs hotel—of lath and plaster, buried its owner in the partial ruins. Vjiovernmont House, had it been occupied, must

have destroyed its iramates, for every room was a pile of brick work, the chandeliers, &c., utterly destroyed. The guard had a wonderful escape from the guard room, and the gun at the flagstaff turned over. I have already mentioned the entire destruction of the Council Chamber, the upper storey being completely severed from the lower ; the treasury strong box, and the paper documents apparently in irretrievable confusion. The elegant and substantial new building, the Union Bank, is, in its front a perfect ruin, and I hear the damage within is not much less. Opposite the building, on the road, a considerable opening emitted slimy mud, and the main street was overflown by inundation. The most sub stantially built wooden houses of one story with the exception of the chimneys, are mainly standing. Those of less substantial calibre (and I am sorry to say there are many) are in a state of collapse. There is aa universal destruction of crockery, bottles, &c,, and a pitifnl loss of valuable ornaments, clocks, &c. Several stores are unapproachable, until neighbouring dangers are removed. The principal shock occured at 9h. llmin.J p.m., and it was far the most severe. During the night scarcely half an hour elapsed without a lesser shock, more or less violent, accompanied by a deep hollow sound ; but all these subsequent ones were of much shorter duration ; and the first having levelled every portion of brick work in the lower part of the town, there was less to fear ; but the inhabitants generally fled to the open ground.

From measurements which have since been made it has been ascertained that the land has been raised to a height of from three feet six inches to four feet. All the shell fish attached to the rocks, that live below low water mark, in consequence of the elevation of the land are dead, and the number is considerable enough to cause a strong smell to be perceived by those walking round the east side of the harbour towards Evans' Bay. The . Bally Rock off Point Jerningham, which was formerly 18 inches below low water (spring tides) is now about two feet above low water. j About ten minutes after the first great shock a . great wave entered the harbour, which was estimated to have been above 12 feet in vertical height; from the narrow entrance of the harbour compared to its area very little damage was done by it, but in the open and exposed boat harbour at Te Kopi, all the buildings, &c., on the beach, were swept away by a similar wave. Two coasters, one from Kaikora, the other from Point Underwood, on their approaching the harbour the next morning at davlight, passed through an immense quantity of dead fish, prin-

cipally lmg, and quantities of dead fish were found on the beach, and at Burnham Water.— Wellington Spectator.