532 EEPOET— 1891. 



held on by the grass or fern when a heavy shake came, — and 

 they were many. The next earthquake was in 1810, when the 

 very first colonist arrived in New Zealand ; I don't know how 

 heavy that was, but I am told it was pretty sharp. The next 

 was in 1848 : three sharp shocks occurred, one on Sunday 

 morning early, one on Tuesday, and one on Thursday, throw- 

 ing down houses and chimneys, and a brick wall, killing three 

 persons — a father and two children. I myself picked up the 

 youngest, of course quite dead. The last — the most fearful of 

 all — was in January, 1855, lasting nearly a minute. I do not 

 think Lisbon experienced a heavier shock, but history tells us 

 that city had several. So, you see, they seem to come about 

 once in seven years — that is, severe ones. No doubt the heavy 

 shake in 1855 exhausted Nature's powers for a long time, but I 

 am afraid we may expect another heavy shake either this year 

 or the next. Three periods of seven years have passed away, 

 and we are going on to the end of the fourth seven. It is 

 possible we may be exempt from heavy shocks some time 

 longer, but, from what we know of earthquakes in New Zealand,, 

 through the Natives and others who were here more than sixty 

 years ago, I do not think we shall be. At any rate, I think it 

 would be courting danger to go on building brick buildings. I 

 would not even build wooden houses so tall as many are in 

 Wellington. Again, how will the large plate-glass windows 

 stand a heavy shake either in wood or brick houses ? To con- 

 clude, if my caution should be the means of saving one life, I 

 shall feel I have not written in vain. 



The foregoing information includes all the records that 

 the Secretary has been able to collect up to the present time 

 upon which any reliance can be placed. Until seismographs 

 and registering tide-gauges have been distributed throughout 

 the Islands it is obvious that no records will be obtained 

 sufficiently exact to form the basis of scientific investigation 

 into the causes of the New Zealand earthquakes. 



llcport of the Committee, consisting of Professor Beagg, 

 Professor Lyle, and Mr. K. W. Chapman {Secretary), 

 appointed to investigate and report upon the Tides of 

 South Australia. 



The Committee have been engaged during the year in the 

 harmonic analysis of the tidal curves obtained at Port Adelaide, 

 but, owing to the immense amount of numerical computation 



