494 Proceedings. 



vases, globes, groups of figures, and other ornamental devices were placed 

 along the edges of the roofs. It should be recollected that in cases where, 

 as in the Post-office, a building is nearly all windows and openings, the 

 iron rods and bands used to tie brickwork together cannot possibly run 

 ■continuously in the external walls. On the whole, an inspection of the 

 brick and stone buildings in the town of Wellington leads the lay mind 

 rather to the impression that architects — at least, up to the present — have 

 laid less stress upon safety from earthquakes than on their ideas of artis- 

 tic effect. The matter of chimneys interested not only the dwellers in. 

 brick houses, but also those in wooden houses. Past experience of earth- 

 quakes clearly set forth that, as wooden houses swing at different intervals 

 from those of their brick chimneys, if these last are in contact with the 

 timbers of the house they are very liable to be simply knocked down. 

 Yet probably there was not one house in a thousand in Wellington where 

 the chimney was not built closely touching the woodwork of the roof. In 

 conclusion, Mr. IMaskell said that in the face of past history scientific 

 pundits might demonstrate quite to their own satisfaction that a destruc- 

 tive shake is not at all likely to occur in New Zealand, just as some 

 people can show to a moral certainty that the world will come to an end 

 in some particular year. Still, it did seem not quite satisfactory that the 

 by-laws of the Wellington Corporation should contain no kind of provision 

 against earthquakes, and that a glance at the buildings in our streets 

 should show that the pioints mentioned by high authority as desirable 

 should not have been taken into consideration. 



Mr. A. McKay, Assistant Geologist, in discussing the paper, said that 

 Wellington was more concerned in the recent shocks in the Amuri dis- 

 trict than most people supposed. He referred to the late earthquakes as 

 in some way connected with the great lines of fault that run parallel with 

 the Kaikoura Mountains, and thought that further movements along some 

 of them may have been the cause of the late disturbance. He mentioned 

 that the pnncipal fault-line was prolonged across Cook Strait into the 

 North Island, and in the South Island extended to the south-west far 

 beyond the boundaries of the Amuri district. It was not certain that 

 our city might not be visited next, for most surely we stood on the 

 same fracture-line, and it was only a question of place whether we had 

 the violence of a shock at one time, and there was a lighter one in the 

 South, or vice versa. The line of fracture passed from Tinakori Road to 

 the mouth of Happy Valley, was next seen across the Strait at Lake 

 Grassmere, on the Flaxbourne Estate, where it was traced for about 

 sixty miles, to the Hanmcr district. It passed within one and a half 

 miles of the residence of Mr. Low, which suffered so seriously in the late 

 convulsion, and at no groat distance from Mr. Rutherford's station. The 

 downthrow in the Kaikoura district was not less than 10,000ft., but 

 between Karori and the city it was only 500ft. All this displacement had 

 taken place in comparatively modern times, geologically speaking — per- 

 haps within 500,000 years — and the movement was certainly not likely to 

 cease for a considerable period — perhaps another 500,000 years. 



Mr. T. W. Kirk said that the best thanks of the Society were due to 

 Mr. Maskell for having drawn attention to this subject. If the city had 

 really the slightest claim to the title sometimes given it by persons 

 from other parts of the colony — viz., the " city of wind and earthquakes " 

 — then the paper should possess special interest for the citizens, and ho 

 ■was surprised there was not a much larger attendance : the absence of 

 architects was particularly noticeable. The author stated that there had 

 not been for more than thirty years, until the present month, any 

 earthquakes in New Zealand of sufficient violence to do damage to 

 property. He would like to ask l\Ir. Maskell if he did not think the 

 earthquakes which accompanied the Tarawera eruption of sufficient 

 violence. He thought it would have been as well if the candidates for 

 seats at the City Council had been present, for after Mr. Maskell's paper 



