EARTHQUAKES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume X, Issue 4203, 3 September 1888, Page 3

EARTHQUAKES.

| (by telegraph.) Chbistchuboh, September 1. j At the tim» of the shock a scavenger named Boas was walkiog along the middle of the road through the Cathedral Square in front of'the Cathedral. He states that the spire began to shake almost with the I commencement of the earthquake, and when the shake readied Its climax the; upper part of the structure seemed to collapee, and came crushing to the ground. One piece of stone fell very near to Ross. Most of the stone struck the footpath to the south-west of the tower, about on the spot where a small piece of stone which j was detaehed from the spire by the earthquake of 1881 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 north side of the tower. Anderson, the steeplekeeper, went to..the Cathedral with the utmost promptness, and got inside it. 10 minutes after the shock. Helighted the gas, and found that then was only one place of leakage from one of the standards near the front. One of the branohes.of this had been broken off by a large splinter of wood detached' from the roof beam - by some falling masonry. Having stopped the leak,- he proceeded to make an examination of the building. He has hadsome experience of South America—jpor eateUenet 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. The dust , there was not from the walls, which;were uninjured. Together . with A. Merton'and Wackius, ■ who- joined him, be pursued his investigations. He asoended the spire to find that nothing was 'injured below the break. The cross, which was hangingagainst the side of the steeple, he seenred as well as he could with a rope. Four of the largest bells of the peal which had been'" rang np" were "rung down " by the earthquake, and it was these which caused the clamorous peal' which added so much to ttie startling effect of the shock. The crosa.jßas_lowered this afternoon. The Cathedral tower spire was the gift of the { late Mr Robert Heaton Rhodes, and; cost about L2OOO. It was 202 feet high. The break'is almost 25 feet from the summit, not including the height of the cross. Tbe spire" is about 1 six feet in diameter' at the point of /fracture. The spire was built of Oamaru stone and the remainder of the structure of blnestone, faced with Oamaru stone. The spire was strongly I bound together with bond stoneß and iron, and strengthened at Intervals with floors. Considering the materials used it j was built in the ..strongest possible manner. The cross on the summit was fixed to a rod brabed to the upper portion of the spire. Professor Hutton considers that the | stone used for the steeple is totally unfit I for the purpose, being too porous to sup- j port the weight of the iron cross. When tbe vibration began the weight of i.the' cross oracked the stone. In any case;the stone conld not have, stood many years within an.earth quake;, region auoh j as Christohurch is, in addition , to the boritinued vibration to which it is liable,: the porous nature of the- atone is calculated gradually to cause it to fracture with Its own weight. - In North-west, ward the chief damage has been'suffered by'the Normal School. One chimney has gone, and the rest' are more or lesr shattered. The ceilings r In. the rooms of the south-west wing have hid the plaster-cracked., .The piouaole of: the Durham Wesleyan Church has' taken a alight "list to port," but-, is not materially damaged, while the ohurch itself is intact, with the exoeption of* the plaster here and then dislodged. All up Victoria-street and Papanni road chimney*'' in many hoviea have had the brickwork shattered;" aadoneor two have,pt>medown. In Moa

Place, Mkdra*-itreet,..three feat of. brick work was dislodged from a wall on Oookaon'a premises, and fell on the 'adjoining boose of-Mr Young, amaahing through the roof of the bedroom In which two young lada had been sleeping. The boys got out of bed luckily at the first shock, and just escaped being crashed. At the time this wall waa erected a protect was lodged against it with the City Council. At the East Ghriatcburoh School the two chimneya in the aonth gables were formerly coped with heavy blocks of atone, which always gave the impreasion of being top heavy, and this morning's shook proved tbe correotneaa of the idea, as both Buffered through the earthquake. The atones fell, some on- the roof and othera about twenty feet from the building. At the gas works a considerable quantity of water was spilled out of the "water seal" tanks in whioh the gasholders are placed. .The movement of these holders dislodged the water, and caused, it to flood the yard around the manager's house. It was np to the boot tops of the men working. The water waa lowered about nine inches in the tanks. The ahook was felt all through North Canterbury. At Waikari, Ranglora, and Kaiapol a few ohimneys were thrown down, bat no other serious damage was done. Another slight shock was felt at 4.25 this afternoon. September 2. A slight Bhock of earthquake was felt here at 11.15 this morning. September 3. 1 Tbe shook was very severely felt at Waiau, Hanmer Plains, Leslie Hills, and St. Helen's. A correspondent declares "It was something terrible at the Hot Springs. Tbe vibration had the effect of liberating an extraordinarily large amount of gsß, and the springs overflowed. Mr Atkinson's residenoe at Wood bank is described as completely ruined. At the stations at Leslie Hills and St. Helens the damage has been very considerable. * Mr Low is removing his furniture from St. Helen's to Jack's Pass, at Waiau. Several chimneys were demolished and in the cemetery a monument was overturned. At Waikari shocks were' more or less continuous to 7 a.m., and there were intermittent vibrations from 2 to 2.30 p.m. Grbymouth, September 2. At 11 o'clock on Saturday morning a very sharp shock of earthquake was felt; at 11.10 this morning, another ; and still another at 12 30. A protracted but faint vibration followed the 11 o'clook shock. News reached here that ■ the Christchurch coach had only gone two miles from Bealey when a heavy allp was met: This was cleared away, and others were encountered. At Otira the whole road has slipped away, leaving barely a fonr foot passage: It will take a week to clear a passage out of the side of the hill. Tbe passengers included Mr R. J. Saddon, and he and another procured horses at the accommodation house, and came to Kumara. Both'these gentlemen felt tbe 11 o'clock shock of yesterday while riding. Wbstpobt, September 3. Distinct shocks of earthquake were felt on Saturday at 4 and 6.55, on Sanday at 6 and 11.20 a.m., and at 8.15 this morning-