MAY REAPPEAR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26043, 5 January 1946, Page 2

MAY REAPPEAR

MISSING SOUTHERN ISLANDS RESULT OF OCEAN EARTHQUAKE SYDNEY, Jan. l. Islands that have been “missing” in the South Pacific for more than 130 years may rise again from the ocean bed as a result of the violent undersea earthquake on Saturday, said the director of Riverview Observatory. Father D.- O'Connell. These islands, he said, were discovered by explorers m 1 81 4, but afterward disappeared. Since then they have been referred to as the missing islands." They were probably formed by submerged volcanoes, and their existence wpuld not be permanent. The earthquake was in the zone embracing New Zealand, but was 1000 miles away from the South Island, said Father O’Connell. It was 1950 miles away from Sydney, and approximately 200 'away from Macquarie Island, oh, the ocean bed. Father O’Connell piunointed the earthquake’s position at 62 degrees south and 150 degrees east. He said it was the biggest disturbance recorded at Riverview, and was located farther south than any otheis. Father O’Connell said that the swing of the seismograph’s spotlight varied from one-hundredth of an inch upward when earthquakes were recorded. The earthquake on Saturday caused a swing of three feet.