NOTES OF THE EARTHQUAKE ON FEBRUARY 1, 1868.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXII, Issue 2667, 14 April 1868, Page 4

NOTES OF THE EARTHQUAKE ON FEBRUARY 1, 1868.

Read by tho Eight Rev tbe Bishop of the Diocese at tho last meeting of the Wellington Philoßophical Society. I have thought that it might be interesting to keep some record of the earthquakes felfc in this locality and neighborhood. The following notes were either mnde by myself immediately after the smart shock felt in Wellington on the morning of Saturday, tho Ist of February last, at 8 o'clock, or wore gathered by myself from residents in this town and neighborhood. The notes of the shake as felt in other places are derived partly from newspaper accounts, partly from direct communications made to myself soon after the sliake, by friends residing in the several places. ■WELLINGTON. The shock struck my house from the north-east, and threw down a picture, leaning, but not fastened, against tho north-cast wall ; and also a candlestick. In the bedroom above, a glass was thrown off the table, and fell from north-east in the opposite direction. Archdeacon Hadfield was in the bedroom at the time, and ffilfc a sudden sharp shock, looked at his watch and counted the seconds between it and the next shock, and considered that 13 seconds elapsed. Being long accustomed to the earthquakes of this locality, he looked for a second shock because the first was so sudden. It was the second shock which was the most severe, and throw down the glass. In another room I observed a small dark lantern, surrounded by other articles, standing ngainst a south-cast wall, fall eastwards, but it could hardly havo fallen in any other direction. Mr Allan, the chemist, on Lambtou quay told mo that the bottles standing in his shop against the north-east wall were not moved at all, but that one was thrown down from the north wall. Captain Benson, living on the cliff just above Mr Allan's told mo that tho shock was severely felt in his house, that it forced open a wardrobe locked and bolted, and that he considered it cume from the south-west. Rev. P. H. Maxwell, who lives higher up the hill a hundred yards above Captain Benson's house, told me that the Bhock was hardly felt at all in the parsonage. IOWER HUTT. Mr Ludlam tells mo that the shake was not felt much by persons inside hishousa, that he was in his garden at tho time, heard a rumbling npise, looked up at his pines, and saw the'ni bow down from south-west towards north-east. [ PAKURATAHI, (WEST COASIT.) Persons residing there told me tpat there was only one shook, and another says it came from the

south-west •at 8 a.tn. They ' all agreed that it came from the Beaward. OSAKI. A clergyman told me that there was only one shock felt, and that it came from the north-east. WANGANinC. A resident living on the hill on the south bank of the river says he saw the banisters inside his house bow down from north-east to south-west. TAKANAKI (WEST COABT.) Archdeacon Gtovett tells me that he and others 4 felt only one slight shock at 8 a.m. NAPIEB (EAST COAST.) H. Tiffen, Esq., tells me that neither he nor any one to whom he has spoken felt it at all. EARTHQUAKE AND STOBM AT PICTON. The Marlboroxigh JPress states that on Saturday morning last, about 7.45 a.m., was heard the booming mournful rumble which always precedea an earthquake. Before the sound of the approach had passed away, the earthquake was felt, coming from a south-west direction, and the earth could, during its progress, be plainly seen to move. The oscillations of the. houses were visible to those outside, while those inside were fully alive to the ftict that something more than common was going on. But little actual damage was done by the shock, beyond Bhaking down some bags of flour in the store of Messrs Beauchamp & Co, and unstringing the nerves of the timid. The earthquake was the severest that has been felt in the province for some yearß, and lasted a few seconds. About 12.30 p.m it commenced -to rain, and continued without intermission during the remainder of the day and night following. At 7 a.m. the foot bridge, which connected the north and south parts of the town, was carried bodily away, and down to the sea, before anything could be done to save it. It was for some time feared that the bridge would meet with the same fate as the old one, but by skill and prudence, the danger was averted. A vast deal of damage has been done by the flood. XTTTBMON. A shock oi an earthquake was felt in Lyttelton on Saturday morning, at about ten minutes to eight o'clock. The shock appeared to run from •west to east, and lasted about three seconds. It appears to htivo been most felt at the north (upper) end of the town, many of the inhabitants in which stato that their houses "were much shaken at the time, the vibration being considerable. We alse.hear that a Bimilar slight shock of earthquake was also felt at Eaiapoi, lasting for the same space of time. It is described as being a Bharp oscillatory movement of the ground, which caused the buildingß to creak, and as having passed in the direction of west to east. NEISON. Freeh arrivals of steamerß bring intelligence showing over what a wide extent of country the earthquake shocks lately experienced here were felt. The Examiner sayß a rather smart shook of earthquake was experienced in Nelson last Saturday morning, Ist February, about seven minutes before eight o'clock. It was preceded by a slighter motion. The movement, the apparent direction of which was from north-east to south-west, was more felt on low-lying grounds than in higher lands. The Taranakh Serald reports that a slight vibration of the earth was felt in New Plymouth on "Wednesday morning, the 29th ult, between eight o'clock and half-past. It was so slight that only a very few noticed it at all. Its course appeared to be from north to south. The Bey. Eichard Taylor, in his work "To Ika o Mani," pp. 226-7, says that ia 1843 it came from W.N.W., in 1848 from W.S.W., as felt at Whanganui, Captain Drury says that in 1855, as felt in Wellington, it came from W.N.W. Sir John Hersohell, in his " Familiar Lectures," p. 39 (1867), says that there are two ways in which earthquakes move — one with an upward bounding and explosive action (which exactly agrees with Mr Fox's description of the great earthquake felt at St. Thomas's in October last), and the other by lateral undulation, accompanied by a rebound, such as may be seen in a saucer full of water if you give it a push. The great Lisbon earthquake travelled, cays Sir C. Lyell, " Principles of Geology," 7th cd., p. 475, at the rate of twenty miles a minute. Bufc, in the samo page, he sayß that it took two hour* to travel from Lisbon to Madeira. Now, as Lisbon is 38deg. 42min. N. lat., and 9deg. llmin. W., and Madeira is 32 N. and 15 30 W., the exact distance is 479 geographical miles* (which we may reckon at 500 statute miles), I presume that under water it travelled in that direction only four miles a minute. Moreover, I have always read (though . I cannot correct my memory by reference to any authority) that the earthquake at Lisbon on Ist Nov., 1755, was felt there at 20 minutes before 10 a.m., and was felt in London at 12 o'clock, and at Hamburg at half-past 12. The direct distance between London and Lisbon is about 1000 miles. It travelled therefore nearly twice aB fast between Lisbon and .London as under water between Lisbon and Madeira. But in neither of these specified cases does it seem to have been anything like so fast as twenty miles a minute. The point to be remarked about the earthquakes observed by Captain Drury and others in New Zealand, is that they are felt simultaneously (N.Z., in 1855)— from Otago to the Boy of Islands — whereas the common motion observed in the other hemispheres is undulatory and not simultaneous. I suppose that, the illustration given by Sir J. Herschell of the water in the saucer explains the contradictory accounts given above of the direction from which the shock of Feb. 1, 1868, Beemed to proceed here and elsewhere — notice being taken of the statement that it was not felt at all at Napier, N.E. of this place. * Calculated by the Eev. P. Hay Maxwell.