Wellington Philosophical Society. 501 



knew something about building-construction. He suggested that on the 

 reclaimed laud floating foundations should be used as a protection against 

 earthquakes. The bricks should be hard and square, and well wetted, 

 and the mortar should be composed of what is called " beton agglo- 

 m^re " in France. Hoop-iron should be built in the walls at short 

 heights, and the buildings girt with boud-irons instead of wall-plates. 

 The joists should be a fifth of their depth in thickness, and supplied with 

 wrought-iron anchors. Mr. Maskell had told them that he had taken 

 opportunities of looking at some of the brick buildings in the city, and 

 had found that the greater part of the theories of Professor Milne had 

 been neglected. He hoped that he (Mr. Maskell) would now admit that 

 in these visits his looking was only superficial, that he only saw regular 

 openings one over the other, instead of scattered ones, that the arches 

 were not curved into the abutments, and that there were some projec- 

 tions which did not please him. He hoped that, after having heard the 

 foregoing general description of the construction of the buildings under 

 consideration, Mr. ]\Iaskell would see that the wrought-iron built within 

 the walls, and the iron-bound connection that the floor and roof had with 

 the walls, formed such a tower of strength as even Professor I\Iilne never 

 dreamt of. All his (Milne's) theories were mostly on the face, and no 

 part of the framework. This system had been followed in the building 

 he (Mr. Maskell) had criticized. It was a mode of construction that had 

 proved eminently efficient in San Francisco and along that coast, and 

 was in use with the architects there, a body of gentlemen represented by 

 every nation in Europe, as well as America, and who had begun the 

 study of earthquake-proof construction long years before the name of 

 John Milne was known to the scientific world, who were still continuing 

 the study, and on this subject were, in his opinion, the best authorities on 

 the face of the earth. In conclusion, he hoped there was nothing in Mr. 

 Maskell's paper or Professor Milne's book that would eliminate the faith 

 they had in their adopted country, and that they would continue to hope 

 that they would experience no more severe tremors of the earth in the 

 future than they had in the past. 



Mr. Donaldson asked the author whether the wooden buildings 

 stood the shakes experienced in 1848 and 1855 better than those of brick 

 or stone. 



The President regretted that ]\Ir. Turnbull had made the question 

 a personal one. He (Mr. Maskell) had carefully avoided that ; and his 

 only object in presenting the paper was to draw public attention to an 

 important matter. He did not desire to defend Professor Milne, who 

 could stand up for himself ; but if he was allowed he would difier from 

 Mr. TurnbuU's opinion of that gentleman. As far as his (Mr. jMaskell's) 

 reading went — and it was not that of a few days — no name stood so high 

 as that of Professor Milne upon such matters. He combated Jlr. Turn- 

 bull's arguments at some length, and pointed out that the effects and 

 results of earthquakes were incomprehensible. Earthquakes seemed to 

 knock buildings down or leave them alone just as they liked. A number 

 of buildings on one side of a street might be knocked down, while others 

 on the opposite side would be uninjured. He considered that ]\Ir. Turn- 

 bull had given up the whole question— just as an architect who had 

 written to a newspaper in reply to his (]\Ir. Maskell's) paper had done 

 — by expressing the opinion that we were not likely to again experience 

 destructive earthquakes. Those who thought that were perfectly wel- 

 come to their ophiions. He did not believe that destructive earthquakes 

 might not at any time occur in New Zealand ; and he explained that the 

 whole of his paper was based on the supposition that what had happened 

 before would probably happen again. He quoted some notes on the 

 shock of 1848, written by Mr. W. Fitzherbert, who stated that "the 

 earth in some parts was moved in waves averaging about 12in. in height." 

 He would like to know how their brick buildings would fare under those 



