NELSON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 148, 2 November 1868, Page 3

NELSON.

The Nelson Colonist of Oct. 20 has the following account of the earthquake in that province : —

Shortly after midnight on Sunday la9t, the people of this city and province were startled by the visit of a sharp and more than usually prolonged earthquake shock. At fifteen minutes after twelve, people were awakened ky the deep subterranean booming sound that usually precedes such a phenomenon, and then came a series of violent oscillations, which while they lasU-d, and for a considerable time afterwards, caused very general alarm. The earth sensibly heaved ; and tr«es were seen waving to and fro against the ■ky as the undulations of the wave passed by. There was not a breath of wind stirring at the t.me ; 11 peculiar stillness prevailed, and made the rumbling all the more distinctly audible, and which, mingled with the creaking of moving timbers, and the loud and sudden barking of dogs, tended to imke these unusual midnight disturbances all the more alarming. The first shock lasted about thirty-five to forty seconds, and appeared to proceed from about N.N.E. to S.S.W. To the observer it seemed at first ns if there were a double movement ; that is, a vertical as well ah a horizontal motion, the first shock, that followed quickly after the beginning of the rumbling, appearing to come like a stroke er " thud" from bdow upwards, succeeded fey a. series of undulations, increasing in intensity, and gradually decreasing until it terminattd in a second seemingly upward stroke. But as the damage done is so very trifling, and as those mixed vertical and horizontal movements are always attended with more serious effects, it is possible that the opening

thud was only the first displacement of the «*rtb, caused by the incursion of the first undulation, and that the increasing intensity may hare been due to subtequeat undulations overtaking each other, and producing a ■ort of double yibration, which came to a \ •Umax and died away, followed by the closing stroke caused by the return of the earth to its former position. Another shock, also like a sudden blow, but not so strong, was felt eight minutes later, at 12.23 ; a third at 12.40; a fourth, rather sharp at 1.10; there were three more in rapid succession between 3.34 and 3.38; I the last being one of considerable force, though possessing neither the intensity nor the duration of the opening shock. All through the morning there were slight movements, repeated during the forenoon, and one, tolerably perceptible, took place about halfpast three in the afternoon. In many houses articles were thrown down by the shock, such as chimney ornaments; in some shops, crockery and articles on the shelves were overturned ; clocks were stopped in numerous dwellings ; houie-bells rang, and the fire-bell, hung on a wooden belfry, forty feet h gh, was heard to sound three times. Considering the sharpness of the shock (the heaviest experienced here since 1855, >hich was far more serious than the present), the damage is very trifling indeed, and is chiefly apparent in some amiill injuries to brick chimneys. A new chimney stack about sixty f^et high, at the Haglan Brewery, whs shaken and partially cracked, but it is not supposed that it has been *o much injured as to require demolition and rebuilding. The chimney-pots at the Government Buildings, which are a sort of continuation of the main stalk, and are constructed of brick, in a turret fashion, with a heavy coping on the summit, were shaken off, as were also various round stone ornaments, at the gable-ends of the buildings. At the College the shock was very keenly felt, and there too. chimney-pots were shaken down — in one case the heavy brick coping falling on the roof of a bedroom, but fortunately without breaking the roof. All these tops were so shaken that they are now being removed, and wM be replaced witli iron. The new and half-finished buildings in Trafalgar street stood the shake wonderfully well. Some attention was called to a small fissure between the wall of Mr John's building and the unfinished wall of Mr Milner's premises, but that tiie architect states, was not caused by the earthquake, but existed before, and is a common result to a new wall in process of erection, wheu built alongside an older and drier wall. A friend who had walked in from the country some distance, passed down Bridge street just as the first shock was occurring, lie heard the booming sound when at the Trafalgar street crossing, and then commenced on both sides of the street a harsh jarring and shaking of the houses, which continued until he arrived opposite Mr Hirgreaves' butcher's shop, a distance of some 90 yards, and which it took him about a minute to. walk, as timed by him to-day. The shoi ks were felt sensibly and sharply on bourd some of the vessels in the harbour, and some of the officials on watch state that the tide, then about an hour after high water, came back with a rush under the wharf ; and this afternoon there was some slight tidal disturbance. Up country the shock was felt in all parts, and there tbe cattle, horset, dogs, and farmyiird occupants exhibited great alarm, the large animuls galloped wildly about, and .being very unsettled all night long, List night at 9.48, a slight shock from the same direction was noticed ; and two more this ( Tuesday) morning, at 1.40 and 3.48 ; the latter shock was a sharp one.