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TIDAL DISTURBANCES.
The following information with re-
ference to the recent tidal disturbances
on the coasts of New Zealand, New South
Wales, and South America, may prove of
interest to scientific savants. ''A re-
markable series of waves reached our
coasts on Friday (says the Sydney Morn-
ing Herald). Mr Russell informs us that
at 20 minutes past 5 a.m. on the 11th the
tide gauge at Fort Denison records the
first of a series of waves which went on at
short intervals all day, reaching a maxi-
mum at about 2 p.m. of 3 ft. 6 in.
rise and fall. At Newcastle the waves
began at 5 a.m., and at half-past 11
a.m. the harbor water fell 29 in. in four
minutes (the rise is not given), after
which the oscillations continued, but were
not so great. At Ballina similar pheno-
mena have been observed all day—greatest
rise, 18 inches. Telegrams from New
Zealand report similar waves on the East
Coast from 5 a.m., extending from Bay of
Islands to the Bluff. The greatest range
was 6ft. ; the least reported 2ft. By the
latest news they still continued. It
would, therefore, appear that the waves
came from the S.E., as they are not re
ported from the West Coast of New
Zealand. It is unfortunate that the exact
time they reached New Zealand is not
given, but it is evident they have come
over the thousand miles in a very short
space of time, and must be of the same
character as the remarkable earthquake
waves which reached our coast in August,
1868. The Boomerang, steamer, was
being taken on to the slip at noon, when
one of the waves came in and lifted her
suddenly off the cradle, and then, receding,
left her high and dry."
The Argus, commenting upon the same
subject, remarks :—" The tidal disturb
ances which occurred on the coast of New
South Wales and New Zealand on Friday
last have been followed by the news, re-
ceived by cable yesterday, of the destruc-
tion by an earthquake of Iquique, one of
the principal shipping ports on the coast
of Peru, South America. Presuming the
disaster to have taken place on Thursday
last, the earthquake wave would have
travelled about 6000 miles in a straight
line in the space of 24 hours, or at the
rate of about 290 miles an hour. Marine
disturbances were severely felt in New
Zealand waters on Saturday, so that it is
probable that we shall hear of still fur-
ther disaster on the South American
coast. Iquique was similarly visited in
1867, when the whole place was swept
into the sea by a huge tidal wave, and
since that date the neighboring town of
Arica has "suffered terribly from a like
cause. The electric telegraph now ex
tends to almost all parts of South Ame-
rica. There is a cable direct to Buenos
Ayres on the east coast, and a land line
thence across to Santiago, and north
wards along the Chilian coast to Peru."
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