EARTHQUAKE AT WELLINGTON.

New Zealander, Volume 11, Issue 928, 7 March 1855, Page 4

EARTHQUAKE AT WELLINGTON.

[From the Nelson Examiner]. We have received the painful intelligence that the city of Wellington and its neighbourhood has again been visited with a most severe earthquake; and we find that the shocks which have been experienced in Nelson during the present week, like the shocks of October, IS4B, have been but the half-spent wave which first rose somewhere on the shores of the southern extremity of Cook’s Straits, but the exact locality of which we have yet to learn. To the arrival last night of 11. M. Sloop Pandora, we owe the receipt of this intelligence; and Captain Drury, with a kindness we can scarcely sufficiently acknowledge, has placed at our disposal a copy of his journal, which narrates the whole calamity as it passed under his eye. To this document, which we publish in its entire form, we may safely refer for the history of the most dire calamity which has ever befallen New Zealand since it has been a British colony-; but while on the one hand we may turn to it to learn the full extent of the disaster, as far as known when the Pandora left Wellington early on Thursday morning, it will also be most valuable for the purpose of showing the real extent of the mischief done, and thus prevent our readers from being misled by stories already in circulation, which magnify the calamity, great as it has been : Extract from Commander Drury’s Remark Book. Cook’s Straits, January 25th, 1855. The Anniversary of the Wellington settlement was most auspiciously celebrated—a brighter or a calmer day never beamed on the harbour. The boat races, and every description of sports on shore, went off with much good humour and eclat, and the only drawback was the want of wind for the sailing boats. In the evening, a light N.W. wind sprung up, which increased gradually during the night; and at 8, on the morning of the 23rd, it blew violently. The sports, however, continued, and the race-course drew nearly the whole population of Wellington ; but a drenching rain at noon checked the further progress of joviality, which was to be repeated on the morrow. At 11 minutes past 9 o’clock, p.m., the gale still blowing strong, we felt suddenly an uncommon and disagreeable grinding, as if the ship was grating over a rough bottom. It continued with severity for more than a minute ; the ship slewed broadside to the wind; we were then in G fathoms, so there was little doubt but it was an earthquake. Lights were seen running to and fro in all parts of the town, and evidences of consternation combined with a loud crash. Lieutenant Jones and myself immediately landed We found the tide alternately ebbing and flowing. The first scene before us on landing was the Government ollices, entirely destroyed, the upper story (the falling of which had caused the crash we heard) lying on the ground ; the stair-case, the Council Chamber, the papers and documents in Iteterogeneous confusion ; an adjoining chemist’s shop, whose simples and compounds admixing, hijd a decided bias to peppermint ; ..bile the dootway of the public house was a confusion of broken bottles. The sentinel in charge of the Government building, who had just been thrown backwards and forwards, was now walking in front of the wreck with perfect sang froid, no doubt crying “ All’s well” to the hour. 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, the dislodgment of furniture, the fissures in (he 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 arid 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 1813 to the 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 1818, 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 two-storied house—Baron Alsdorfs hotel—of lath and plaster, buried its owner in the partial ruins. Government House, had it been occupied, must have destroyed its inmates, for every room was a pile of brick-work, the chandeliers, &c., utterly destroyed. The guatd had a wonderful escape from the guard room, and the gun at the flag-staff turned over, 1 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 papers and documents apparently in irretrievable confusion. The elegant and substantial new building, the Union Ban's is, in its front, a perfect ruin, and I hear the damage within is not much less. Opposite this building, on the road, a considerable opening emitted slimy mud, and the main street was overflown by inundation. The most substantially-built wooden houses of one storey, with the exception of the chimneys, are mainly standing. Those of less substantial calibre (and I am sorry to say there are many) are ir. a state of collapse. There is an universal destruction of crockery, bottles, &c., and a pitiful loss of valuable ornaments, clocks, &e. Several stores are unapproachable, until neighbouring dangers are removed. The principal shock occurred at 9h. 11m. p.m. and it was by 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 leas to fear : but the inhabitants generally removed to the open ground, and the following day the streets and gardens were the scene of an involuntary picnic. From what we noticed, it appeared that the elemental wave proceeded from about W.N.W. to E.S.E., that its actual effect upon terra Anna was slight, and that the fissures were generally where the road was made, although the mud emitted from the crack at Te Aro must be considered as subterraneous deposit, from what depth not easily decided. From close observations on the barometer, I have no reason to believe that the effect before or after the principal shock was evident (it ranged from 29-90 to 80-00), nor that the calm preceding, or the gale attending, the earthquake, had any connexion with flic subterraneous convulsions. We witnessed, during the 48 hours following, every variety of wind and weather, yet with repeated shocks ; but although I would disconnect the atmospheric influence with the earthquakes, we had evety reason to believe the latter had immediate local influence on the atmosphere, producing violent gusts after the shocks. If it is a fact that an action, or filing, will produce a local calm by the disturbance of the atmosphere, the phenomenon here may be more easily accounted for. But a more interesting and extraordinary phenomenon occurred (I say extraordinary, because no person ap] ears to have observed it in the earthquake of 1818): for eight hours subsequent to the first great shock, the tide approached and receded from the shore every twenty minutes, rising from eight to ten feet, and receding four feet lower than at spring tides. One ship, 1 heard, was aground at her anchorage four times. The ordinary tide seemed quite at a discount, for the following day (24th) it scarcely rose at all. The general effects of the earthquake were evidently felt move upon the lower parts of the town ; at the H utt most severely. The bridge there was destroyed, and the houses much damaged. lam also informed the Porirua road is sunk in places. Recurring to our landing after the first shock. Lieutenant Jones and myself went into several houses. The panic was certainly great, and many accepted the offer to go on board—the houses wc were in swinging to and fro, and the ground in a constant tremulous motion. It was sufficient to unnerve the stoutest hearts: but after a delay of three or four hours (in which wo were visiting other parts of the town), on returning to the parties who had accepted an asylum on board, we found one and all had determined to abide on shore—indeed they were getting accustomed to it. The wives would not desert the husbands, and the husbands would not desert the town. We returned to the ship at 2 a.rn., the tide having at that time receded about 4 feet lower than at ordinary spring tides. On the 24th the shock continued ; but at greater intervals as the day advanced; but the tremulous motion wa* continuou*.

The scene on the streets was novel; some people standing at their thresholds, groups upon mats, clear of the houses, or in tents in their gardens. Those who had suffered less than their neighbours were assiduous in rendering assistance. What a different seeno would have occurred in the father land ! With shops exposed, and every temptation to plunder, tin re seemed to he neither fear nor thought of robbery, but a generous and manly feeling to essen each other's burdens pervaded all classes, from the Superintendent to the lowest mechanic, from the Colonel to every soldier of the Cslh regiment; nor can I forget to mention the ready asylum afforded bv the merchant vessels in the harbour to the houseless and more nervous inhabitants. On the 25th, at Oh. 55 min., n.m , there was a very sharp but compuratively short shock. Having ascertained we could be of no further assistance, we weighed for Nelson, and in crossing Cook’s Straits wo fell one shock in 2G fathoms, at noon, off Sinclair's Head (exactly the same feeling as when at anchor), and a slighter shock in 80 fathoms, off Queen Charlotte’s Sound. In these events there is much to he thankful for in the absence of fire : had it been winter, the universal falling in of chimneys would have assuredly fired the wooden houses : had the first shock been an hour later, many live would probably have been lost, as the populace would have been in bed. Much fear is entertained for the soldiers at Wanganui barracks. I trust we shall find that Nelson has suffered as lightly as on former occasions.