VIOLENT EARTHQUAKE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9149, 3 September 1888, Page 3

VIOLENT EARTHQUAKE.

SEVERE SHOCKS IN THE SOUTH. ALARMING EFFECTS AT CHRISTCHURCH. THE CATHEDRAL DAMAGED. FALL OF A PORTION OF THE SPIRE. NARROW ESCAPES. [by TELEGRAPH.—rRESS ASSOCIATION.] Christchurch, Saturday. A very severe earthquake was felt at 4.10 this morning, Twenty-six feet was broken off the top of the Cathedral spire, and a few chimneys were thrown down. The Cathedral bells were set tolling by the vibration, and cantinued to ring for s everal minutes. There was great destruction of glass and crockery ware, especially in shop windows. The direction was apparently north-east and south-west. The duration is estimated at fully a minute. Nothing so severe has been felt since a shock in 1869. The earthquake caused great commotion here. People left their houses in numbers, but returned when they found the shaking had ceased. A considerable crowd collected around the Cathedral, stones from the spire of which were scattered over the pavement for several yards. Some slates were knocked off the roof by the debris, but the building otherwise is uninjured. It has been decided, however, not to hold service there to-morrow. A small portion of the stonework on the Durham-street Wesleyan Church has been displaced, and the services to-morrow will be held in the theatre instead of the church. A quantity of plaster is down in the Normal School. The chimneys fell at tho East Christchurch School and a few private houses, particularly in Victoria-street. Generally, however, the damage is less than was expected. In the suburbs a few chimneys have fallen or been cracked. No injury to life or limb is reported. The shock was felt with great intensity at Amberley, north of Christchurch, and also at Lyttelton. At neither of these places was there much damage done. On the Higli Bluffs, on the Sumner road, near Lyttelton, blocks of rock ten tons in weight, gave way and went into the harbour with a great crash, carrying fences and other obstructions before them. Marton's block, a great pile of new buildings opposite the Bank of New Zealand, has a considerable rent. Tho Sunnyside Asylum has escaped, no damage having been done to it. The Young Men's Christian Association building shows signs of having been considerably affected by the shock. Just before the first shock came, it is said that large flashes of light wero seen in the direction of Hanmer Plains Hot Springs. Five distinct shocks were felt in Christchurch, and extended over the space of half-an-hour. The first and fifth were the sharpest. The steamer Rotorua, which arrived in Lyttelton this morning, felt the shock when off Kaikoura. Another shock was felt in Christchurch at a few minutes to eleven this morning. Later. At the time of the earthquake shock a scavenger named Ross was walking along the middle of the road through Cathedral Square, in front of the Cathedral. lie states that the spire began to sway almost with the commencement of the earthquake, and when the shock reached its climax, the upper part of tho structure seemed to collapse, and came crashing to the ground. One piece of stone fell very near to Ross. Most of the stone struck the footpath south-west of tho tower, about the same spot where a small piece of stone, which was detached from the spire by the earthquake of ISSI, fell. The asphalt was smashed to pieces for an irregularly shaped patch of nearly a yard in extent. A considerable portion of the debris fell into the Cathedral yard on the northern side of the tower. Anderson, the steeple-keeper, went to the Cathedral with the utmost promptness, and was inside it about ten minutes after the shock. He lighted the gas, and found that there was only one place of leakage from one of the standards near the font. One of the branches of this had been broken off by large splinters of wood detached from the roof beam by some falling masonry. Having stopped the leak he proceeded to make an examination of the building. Ho has had some experience of South America, /xtr excellence the land of earthquakes, and knew what to look for, that was dust at the bottom of the walls inside. Anderson's examination was satisfactory. Dust there was none ; the walls were uninjured. Together with Messrs. A. Merton and Watkins, who had joined him, he pursued his investigations. He ascended the spire to find that nothing was injured below the break. The cross, which was hanging against the side of the steeple, he secured I as well as he could with a rope. The cross was lowered this afternoon. The Cathedral tower and spire were the gift of the late Robert Ileaton Rhodes, and cost about £2000. Tho spire was 200 feet high. The break is about 20 feet from the summit, not including the height of the cross. The spire is about six feet in diameter. At the point of fracture the spire was built of Oamaru stone, and the remainder of the structure of bluestone, faced with Oamaru stone. The spire was strongly bound together with bond stones and iron. The cross on the summit was fixed to a rod braced to the upper portion of the spire. Professor E. Hutton considers that the stone used for the spire is totally unfit for the purpose, being too porous to support the weight of the iron cross. When the vibration began the weight of the cross cracked the stone. In any case the stone could not have stood many years within an earthquake region such as Christchurch ia, as in addition to the continued vibration to which it is liable the porous nature of the stone is calculated to gradually cause it to fracture with its own weight. In the North-west Ward the chief damage has been suffered by the Normal School. One chimney has gone, the rest are more or less shattered. The ceilings in the rooms of the southern wing have had the plaster cracked. The pinnacle of the Durham-street Wesleyan Church has taken a slight " list to port," but it is not materially damaged, while the church itself is intact, with the exception of plaster here and there dislodged. All up Victoria-street and Papanui Road the chimneys in many houses have had the brickwork shattered, and one or two have come down. In Moa Place, Madras-street, three feet of brickwork was dislodged from the wall on Cookson's premises, and fell on the adjoining house of Young, smashing through the roof of a bedroom in which two young ladies had been sleeping. They got out of bed luckily at the first shock, and just escaped being crushed. At the time this wall was erected a protest was lodged against it with the City Council. The two chimneys in the south gables of the East Christchurch school were formerly coped with heavy blocks of stone, which always gave the impression of being topheavy, and this morning's shock proved the correctness of this idea, as both suffered through the earthquake. The stones fell, some on the roof. At the gas works a considerable quantity of water was spilled out of the " water seal" tanks, in which the gas holders are placed. The movements of these holders dislodged the water, and caused it to flood the yards around the manager's house. It was up to the boot tops of the men working. The water was lowered about nine inches in the tanks. The shock was felt all through North Canterbury and Waikari, Rangiora, and Kaiapoi. A few chimneys were thrown down, but no other serious damage done. Another slight shock was felt at twentyfive minutes past four this afternoon. Sunday. A slight shock of earthquake was felt here at fifteen minutes past eleven this morning.

The following telegrams were received on Saturday, and show that the shock was felt over a very extended area — NEW PLYMOUTH. A prolonged earthquake shock, with a rumbling noise, was felt here at a quarter past four this morning. During the earthquake shock tons of water were forced out of the tanks at the gasworks, and the gasholders oscillated greatly, but so far as can be ascertained, no damage has been caused. WELLINGTON. An earthquake shock here at 4.13 this I morning roused up most of the sleepers. The movement was of an undulatory character. No damage was done. A few lasses in one of the hotels were knocked own, and some of the clocks stopped, but that was all. The direction was east to west. FEILDING. A sharp shake was felt here this morning at ten minutes past four. MASTERTON. Light but prolonged earthquakes were felt at a quarter past four this morning. KAIKOURA. At twelve minutes past four this morning the heaviest shock known here occurred, the direction being from W.N. W. to E.S.E. A loud rumbling noise was heard, succeeded by a wave-like motion for a second or two, then came a heavy upheaval, followed by further undulations. Buildings were shaken in an alarming manner for full 60 seconds. Shortly afterwards two less pronounced, but distinct, shocks occurred at varying intervals. Several people rushed outside scantily clothed. The extent of the damage, so far as is known, is the destruction of one or two chimneys, the cracking of others, and it is reported the breaking of statuary in the Roman Catholic Church. NELSON. A severe shock of earthquake of unusually long duration was felt here at twelve minutes past four this morning. No damage reported beyond a few bricks shaken from the top of one or two chimneys. BLENHEIM. An earthquake shock from W. to N.E. was felt here at 4.15 this morning. Its duration is believed to have been 50-secs. The motion was not extremely violent, but was rather of the nature of a long undulation. TIMARU, An earthquake shock lasting fully a minute, but not of much violence, was felt at 4.11 this morning. It was, however, strong enough to wake most people. The direction was between west and north. WESTPORT. A fearful shock of earthquake, lasting over a minute, was felt at ten minutes past four this morning. The stronger shock was followed at short intervals by others of lesser magnitude up to 9 a.m. In fact, for several hours the earth was in an almost continuous state of motion. The first shock was the strongest and most prolonged ever felt here, and terrified many people, who did not again go to bed. Crockery and glassware were smashed, and brick chimneys in course of erection were so damaged as to necessitate re-erection. The motion came from the sea, or west to east. Another severe shock of earthquake was felt at 5 minutes to eleven. GREYMOUTH. Nearly everyone in town was awakened about ten minutes past four by the most violent earthquake shock felt here since 18(38, and greater in duration. It lasted more than a minute, and made houses creak and rock like vessels at sea. A number of chimneys were wrecked, especially on the terrace in the lower part of the town ; also a few chimneys were split. In Webber's Suburban Hotel about £5 worth of damage was done through liquor being shaken off the shelves. A good deal of crockery was broken in some stores, but generally speaking the damage is trifling. The shock was not felt on board vessels lying outside. The direction seemed to come from south to north, and was of equal force throughout. A series of light shocks were felt at intervals until after eleven o'clock, but only two were very distinct. At ton minutes past eleven a.m. on Sunday morning another, and still another at thirty-five minutes past twelve, and another at half-past one p.m., protracted but faint vibrations followed the eleven o'clock shock. News has reached here that the Christchurch coach had only gone two miles from Bealey, when a heavy slip was met. This was cleared away, but others were encountered. At Otira the whole road was swept away, leaving barely a four feet passage. It will take a week to clear a passage out of the sides of the hill. The passengers included Mr. R. J. Seddon, and he and another procured horses at the accommodation house, and came to Kumara. Both these gentlemen felt the eleven o'clock shock while ridingi DUNEDIN. At a quarter- four this morning a slight shock, described as a uniform vibration was felt here. It. lasted for a quarter of a minute, and the direction was from east to west. The weather was singularly warm to-night. An extraordinary glow was observable in the western sky, which it was thought was a big lire, but this does not appear to have been the case. It was noticeable till after midnight-, and travelled southwards. INVERCARGILL. A shock of earthquake was experienced at 4.15 a.m. to-day. The direction was from west to east, and the shock lasted about 50 seconds. The oscillation was very violent.