EARTHQUAKE RISKS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21845, 6 July 1934, Page 12

EARTHQUAKE RISKS

AUCKLAND'S POSITION REPLY BY PROFESSOR SPEIGHT [BY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] CHRISTCBTTRCH, Thursday

A reply to the contentions of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce regarding the risk of earthquake damage in Auckland was made to-day by Professor R. Speight, as president of the Royal Society of New Zealand. "I do not wish to comment at length on the matter of the letter from the Auckland Chamber, since I have not received the full text," he said, "but one or two statements in the telegraphed report should not be allowed currency, even until then. ' "Regarding Auckland's liability to earthquakes, I quote as follows from the report of the research committee of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, Volume 3, 1891, page 531: 'I heard from persons whose word I could rely upon, and who were present, of terrible earthquakes which occurred near Auckland about 1834 or 1835, that lasted nearly three months off and on, the earth feeling as if you were standing on a large jelly. The natives, threw themselves down and held on to grass or forn when a heavy shako came, and there were many.'

"On June 24, 1891, an earthquake occurred in Auckland, estimated as seven or eight on the Rossi-Forel scale (Murchison was classed as nine), as the result of which crockery was thrown down, several chimneys were overthrown and bricks were dislodged from a badly-built brick wall. The Auckland postmaster, Mr. W. S. Furby, reports as follows: —'The shock was felt more or less severely over the Auckland district, excepting the north beyond Kaipara.' "The presence of volcanic rocks at Whangarei, north of Helensville, is, of course, well known to geologists, but those rocks have no more direct connections with contemporaneous earthquakes than those at Auckland, as far as is known."

The earthquake on June 24, 1891, was described in the issue of the New Zealand Herald the following day as a slight shock occurring shortly before 11 a.m. An altogether new experience to most of the citizens and a totally unexpected one to all, it caused a considerable amount of surprise and momentary alarm. No damage worth speaking about was done, although exaggerated rumours were ' current about the town. The shock was reported to have been felt as far north as Dargavillo and as far south as Wanganui. Although it was experienced in most parts of the Auckland province, Rotorua was unaffected.