A PREDICTION VERIFIED.

Otago Witness, Issue 2860, 6 January 1909, Page 24

A PREDICTION VERIFIED.

(From Oce Own Correspondent.) AUCKLAND. December 31. It is of interest to recall the statement made to a Herald representative a fort- 1 night ago by Mr J. T. Stevenson, an old j 'Auckland resident and a member of the Royal Astronomical Society. Referring to the recent Whakatane tremors, and basing his conclusion on the belief that eruptions are influenced by the position of the eun and the moon, Mr Stevenson predicted further movements of our shifting globe in the following words : — " I expect c further period, but not of such intensity, •between December 22 and December 26. The indications point to a shock occurring *fj,t that time in the Southern Hemisphere, j On December 22 the moon will again be . drawing to its nearest approach to the ' i^n-th, and between the 25th and 26th I inst. the attractive forces of the sun and j r flfoon will again exert their greatest inon the earth's crust" When eeen 'jtgain on the subject in connection with fthe Messina catastrophe. Mr Stevenon reSaarked that the Italian earthquake had

apparently occurred when the moon made its nearest approach to the earth on the 27th inst. "it was the Southern Hemisphere that your prediction concerned," the interviewer commented. " Yes," replied Mr Stevenson. "As the moon and sun were both vertical over the Southern Hemisphere and the sun was at its nearest point to our earth, I thought the disturbance would probably be there. However, the attractive force of the sun and moon must have been exerted on the Xadir position — the opposite place on the earth to where the sun was vertical." t Mr Stevenson pointed out that southern outbreaks had occurred, he having received a message to the effect that a slight shock took place at Whakatane on the evening of the 21st inst., also that a severe shock was felt at Waihi on the 22nd. He did not expect, however, that anything serious would occur at these places. That there would probably be further shocks in Italy and Sicily during the next week he was strongly inclined to believe. As the moon is now moving northwards, its attractive influence on that account may be more exerted over the Northern Hemisphere. Messina is a Sicilian port, well known in history, of about 150,000 inhabitants. It is the chief port of export for the fruits with which Sicily abounds, and it 3 shipping trade amounts to about 3,700.000 tons annually. The exports amount to £1,500,000 annually. It stands on the well-known strait of the same name, where the tide, running at some pla-ces with a velocity of over 10 miles an hour, forms whirlpools of an extremely dangerous character. On September 9. 1905. Italy and Sicily were visited by disastrous earthquakes 3 great destruction of life and property resulting. All the villages in the province of Catanzaro were ravaged, and several were entirely destroyed. The -towns of Pizzo, Monteleone, and Martiramo were j almost entirely dertroyed, and great damage was done in the ISesastro district. At Sfcefanaeoni many houses were destroyed, and about 100 people killed. At Piscopjo every house in the i illage was in ruins, and the dead numbered 50. ] Several nouses at Monteleone collapsed, and seven persons lost their live*. r lhe \ illage of Triparni was totally de^roved. ajid 60 people killed ; 65 death 3 occurred at San Gregorio; the ■* illage of Zammaro was razed to the ground ; and 11 deaths and 200 seriously injured were reported /from Mileto; at Zungri nearly e^ery | house was wrecked, and many persons killed. At Pizzo there were four deaths j a-nd many injured ; at Ce3saniti practically all the * (houses fell. The villages of Bratico. Sanleo, St. Constantino, and Conidini were totally destroyed, with about 50 death*. One person was killed j at Spilinga, and at Santonofrio there wers c large number of victims. | The situation in the distiicts de\ astated by the earthquake was terrible. The in- j habitants in many places were without • shelter, and were "a prey to panic. The military displayed the utmost promptness and s(ilt**cvince in the .work of rescue.

The railway stations at Pizzo and Santa Eufemia were evacuated, and some of the bridges were in a dangerous condition. At Fesenza the shock was very severe, and extensive damage was done. At Messina, the damage sustained was considerable, but much less than in Calabria. There were no deaths at Messina, but a few persons were injured. Severe shocks were also felt at Syracuse and Catania. In Rome the public clocks stopped at , the moment of the earthquake. j The region most severely tried was in ' the vicinity of Monteleone di Calabria. The shook caused damage as far as Saint A gat a di Slaro, Roggiano, and Gravigna (province j of Cosenza) and Sicily in the south, and j there was a sensible seismic movement in the north as far as the province of Palermo, , Saserno, Basilicata, Puglia, Bari, and Lecce, I and in the south over the whole eastern coaat of Sicily. A vast disturbance was rei ported from abroad. I Every succeeding report from the dis- , trict visited by the earthquake added to the death roll. At Pargheli the dead were estimated to number 300, at Jopplo 200, and at Ijarterano the number of dead and injuyed were well over 2000. The municipal authorities decided to give 50,000 lire (£2000) for the- benefit of the victims of the Calabria earthquake. Advices from Cosenza showed that the clamage in that province was enormous, j People were sleeping in the open air, the houses- being uninhabitable. Many of the railways were damaged by ' the earthquake. The station at Pargherlia was completely destroyed and passengers who arrived at Nocera by train stated that { in the ruined villages they paseed they saw I men and women, almost without clothing, searohing for their relatives. The King gave the sum of 100,000 liro (£4-000) to be distributed among the sufterera from the earthquake in Calabria. | Tae victims in the province of Catauzaro numbered about 450 killed and 1000 miured.