HuTTON. — The Earthquake in the Amuri. 275 



Canic rh urij D is trict. 



Waikari. — Two chimneys were overthrown. 



Amherley. — No damage reported. 



Bangiora.—A few bricks were thrown from tlie top of a 

 chimney. Some crockery was thrown down and broken. 



Kaiapoi. — The tops of two or three very old chimneys were 

 thrown down. The woollen-factory chimney was uninjured. 



CJiristchurch. — The most noticeable damage was to the 

 Cathedral spire, the upper 26ft., with the cross, having been 

 shaken down. An eye-witness says that his attention ^vas 

 called to the spire by the ringing of the bells (which had been 

 set overnight for ringing) ; he then saw three or four stones 

 shoot out, after which the top part of the spire svv'ayed for a 

 second or two ; and then, after the chief violence of the shock 

 \Yas over, the top, with the cross, fell to the north. No other 

 injury was done to the Cathedral, nor to the spire below the 

 26ft. that fell. The cross, which was of solid iron, was 

 fastened to an iron bolt which passed through 18ft. of solid 

 masonry, and had an iron plate a foot square at the bottom, 

 the whole weighing not less than 60 tons. Below this the 

 spire was hollo w% and from the iron plate four iron stays 16ft. 

 long were carried down inside the spire and secured to iron 

 plates fastened in the masonry. The top of the cross was 

 210ft. above the ground. It is generally thought that the 

 spire would not have been damaged if the top had not been 

 solid, and if it had not been so firmly tied down. 



In the Normal School the top of one of the chimneys was 

 shaken down, and four others were split. The East Christ- 

 church school had some of the chimney- tops much shaken, 

 and some chimney-heads fell. The Wesleyan Church was 

 much shaken, and some of the stones moved out of their 

 places. Three chimneys in private houses also fell. A few 

 other buildmgs were shghtly damaged. None of the factory- 

 chimneys were damaged, although that of Scott and Co. is about 

 80ft. high, and has an iron railing weighing 2 tons on the top. 

 Very little, if any, glass or crockery appears to have been 

 broken. None of the specimens in the Museum were hurt. 

 In the East Belt the main sewer was cracked ; but it here 

 passes through a quicksand, and great difficulty was ex- 

 perienced in making it. At Avonside Church the stone cross 

 on the northern gable of the transept was thrown down. A 

 few chimneys were also injured at Avonside, Heathcote, and 

 Lin wood. 



Lyttelton. — No damage was done. The water in the 

 harbour was not disturbed. 



Ashburton.—The roof of the Borough School was spht, and 

 the plaster shaken down. 



No damage is reported from other parts of Canterbury. 

 18 



