EARTHQUAKES IN CANTERBURY. [From the Lyttellon Times.]

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 48, 16 June 1869, Page 3

EARTHQUAKES IN CANTERBURY. [From the Lyttellon Times.]

SHOCKS AT CnBISTCnUECH. Between four and five o'clock on Saturday morning, June 5, a loud subterranean noise was heard, which continued for upwards of a minute, and was accompanied by a slight tremor of the earth. At five seconds past eight o'clock, a severe shock wa3 experienced, its direction being from south to north, and the vibration continuing for fnlly twenty seconds. Great alarm was caused in the more populous tho- 1 roughfares, and especially in the vicinity of stone buildings. While houses were still shaking, and chimneys falling in almost every direction, men, women, and children, were rustling terror stricken into the open air. Several slight disturbances were noticed at later periods during the day. The damage to property was fortunately confined to the former, and there are few quarters in Christcliurch in which evidences of the shock are absent. In most cases, ho wever, the damage is confined to rent or fallen chimneys. The Government Buildings, more especially the new Council Chamber, have perhaps suffered most. The tops of two of the old chimneys have fallen down, the coping over the main entrance to the Council Chamber, and tho apex stone of the gable over the retiring room, are shaken back. One stone in the arch over the Bellamy staircase is displaced, and there are a few fractures in the plastering. The new offices of the New Zealand Insurance Company, in Hereford-street, have sustained damage, and so have the offices belonging to Messrs. Matteson and Co., close by. Tho offices of the New Zealand Trust and Loan .Company, also in Hereford-street, are damaged, and one side of a email brick house on the town reserves, standing in a road running between Madras and Manchester-streets north, has been shaken completely out. The spire of St. John's church has been damaged, and the new Supremo Court buildings, now in course of erection, are somewhat shaken. Few private houses in town have altogether escaped. Some of the shopkeepers, particularly those in the china and glass trade, have been heavy losers. Messrs. Weir Brothers, in Colombo-street, china and glass merchants, estimate their loss at £100. Most of the chemists and druggists are losers to some extent, Messrs. Cook and Ross being the greatest. In several hotel-bars the bottles fell from the shelves in a perfect shower, causing a considerable loss. Mr. F. J. Garrick's ehiinney fell through tho roof, breaking several pierglasses, and Mr. Herman, Avonside, is a very heavy loser. Most of the bakers had their oven 9 rendered temporarily useless. SHOCKS AT LYTTELTON. At 8 a.m. the inhabitants of Lyttcltou were aroused and alarmed by hearing a loud noise, resembling the rumbling of heavy wagons. Immediately after the ground began to vibrato, and tho houses began to shake ; men, women, and children rushed out of their houses in the greatest terror. The shock was a most severe one, clocks were stopped, bells rung, and crockery smashed in the various houses. The direction of the shock was from south to north. The railway employees on the various wharves felt the shock severely. The wharves were considerably shaken, and the vessels loading alongside were knocked up against them, although there was not a ripple to be seen on the water, or a breath of air blowing at the time. The trucks on the breastwork, and also on the line, felt the shock and bumped against each other. Tho large chains of the derrick were put in motion. With the exception of one fallen chimney, and the smashing of crockery, &c, we have not heard of any damage being done. The shock lasted about thirty seconds. It was feared that some accident had occurred in the tunnel, and that as the shock had been so severe, part of it might have fallen in. Precaution was however taken at the Heathcote end, and the engine was sent through first; happily it was found that there was nothing] wrong. Another slight shock was experienced on Saturday evening, at fourteen minutes past seven o'clock. Many of the inhabitants also allege that a third occurred at sixteen minutes past two in the afternoon, which lasted about five seconds. The shock was also severely felt at Kaiapoi, and in other parts of tho province. It was also felt slightly at Wellington.

A Valuable Timber. — " The railway companies of India," says the Times of India, "are at last about to avail themselves of the valuable woods of Western Australia, for sleepers and other purposes, to which we have at times drawn attention. The jarrah {Eucalyptus marginator) possesses properties for durability and strength unsurpassed by any known wood in the world, besides being impervious to the attack of white ants and the teredo navalis ; it is, moreover, never affected with dry rot. The piles which formed the foundations of a bridge — built thirty-six years ago — over a tidal river at Perth in the above colony were lately drawn to make room for a new bridge, and, upon being sawn transversely, were found as sound and perfect as when they were first driven. By the ship Thames, which lately arrived in Melbourne from Western Australia, the first instalment of a contract for railway sleepers for the G-.1.P. Eailway were received. Mr. Compton, the contractor, who came up in the ship brought unquestionable testimony of the quality and durability of this -wood, more especially for marine works, | such as piles for jetties and for dock gates*"