EARTHQUAKE IN OTAGO.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVIII, Issue 1883, 18 June 1863, Page 3

EARTHQUAKE IN OTAGO.

The Daily Times of the Bth ins*., gives the following details of the recent earthquake. " The watchman in the tower on Church Hili had a unique experience of the earthquake ou Friday night. He was in the look-out mom at the top of the tower ; and haviug just seated himself, he had taken up a pen. Suddenly lie was jerked forward and the pen fldv from bis hand; and the next instant, the whole fabric creaked and rattled to such an extent, that his impression was that the lower ladder was being " swarmed " by a score of excited persons eager to ring the bell. He opened the trap door, and shouted down to know if there was a fire; but of course he did not get an answer, nor did he imagine tbat he had been earthquake rocked on his airy perch. At Port Chalmers, the shock was felt by the majority of the inhabitants ; the time noted being half past ten. Our correspondent writes tbat the shock was the severest te membered to have been felt there. It shook houses, and all movables violently; and it seemed to come fiom the North. A correspondent Mr Lumb, of Caversham, states he was standing at his door, when he felt the bouse moving tremulously, and then the ground. The time bj his watch was 10. 44m. 20s. and he noted that the motion continued nine or ten seconds. His bouse stauds 200 ft. above the sea level. Before the shock he had observed that the sound of the waves from the Green Island direction was unusually loud, whilst from the Ocean Beach there was no sound, although the distance to the former place is from four to five miles, and to the latter only two miles. He thinks the motion passed from VV.S.W to E.N E.; and adds that a slight shock was felt at Caversham two hours previously, The earth quake we are informed was very sensibly felt through the country, from Otakia (near the Taieri ferry) to Tokomairiro, at tsventy-h've minutes to eleven ; and on the other side of Dunedin, from Blueskin to Waikouaiti, we leatu that the shock was distinctly felt. The weather yesterday was most peculiar, and there seemed to be a pretty general opinion that another shock would occur. The air was hot, rather than warm, with very little wind during the day time; the clouds were heavy, louriog, and singularly broken, and seemed heavily charged with electricity. DuriDg the early part of the evening, there was a patch of clear sky away to the south-west. The stars shone with singular brilliancy ; and the fitful light of the Aurora Australis streamed and flashed up from the horizon, suffusing the murky clouds that hung above alternately with rosy and pure pale light. Iv every other direction the sky was pitchy dark. Later on, a fresh breeze sprung up, and there was a clearer' sky ; but the -same sultry heat was felt upon almost every gust. .