The Guria.

No Scientific Records Kept of Rabaul’s Quakes.

THE town of Rabaul, headquarters of the New Guinea Administration, is right on the earth’s great earthquake belt. It is seldom that a week passes without its “guria” (earth tremor). Part of the town is actually built on the lower slopes of volcanoes that are not altogether extinct—they regularly smoke and stink, and occasionally rumble.

Therefore, it was a natural assump tion that some official in Rabaul would keep accurate record of the valuable seismological data thus made available —and a learned body, not long ago, made inquiry for certain data. To its surprise, it found that the Administra tion at Rabual is not officially interested in earthquakes, and there is not, any where in New Britain, an instrument capable of measuring or recording an earth tremor.

This appears to be a matter worthy of the attention of the Administration. The Federal Government maintains an ob servatory and Director at Canberra, and that organisation probably would be glad to cooperate with Rabaul in ar ranging for records of earthquakes to be regularly kept. On the staff at Ra baul there are several gentlemen of scientific attainments who probably would be quite prepared to add to their duties that of supervising seismographi cal observations and records.

Apart from its scientific value, such data ought to be kept in Rabaul. Its study might disclose whether there is any danger of increasing volcanic or earthquake activity in this part of the Territory.