THE PAST OF NEW ZEALAND.

Evening Star, Issue 4124, 16 May 1876, Page 3

THE PAST OF NEW ZEALAND.

Recently Mr J. C. Crawford, F.G.S., delivered a lecture before the Wellington Philosophical Society on the subject of “ Geology,” during which he said : —“ New Zealand formed a part of the line of one of the great fractures of the earth, the southern part of that of the Eastern Hemisphere holding a corresponding position in the Southern to that of the Ural mountains in the Northern hemisphere, or dividing this with the eastern cordillera of Australia. We should, therefore, expect, among other results, that a considerable body of land should, as it were, hang on to the elevation ; and there was every reason to suppose that formerly the area of New Zealand was much greater than it is now. It was probable that at least they might include Norfolk Island in the North,

■end the various groups of the Auckland, Campbell, and Chatham Islands to the south and east, as within the former New Zealand area. This theory, perhaps, rested mainly upon the basis of the flora or fauna of these regions. It must be remembered that New Zealand, with some surrounding islands, formed a natural history kingdom of its own, and must therefore have been long isolated from Australia

and America. A further extension westward, as in that direction they soon got into deep soundings, and the nearest land, Australia, belonged to a different kingdom. They found, therefore, in New Zealand a state of geology which might be called continental, as distinguished from that of isolated islands, which was found in general much more simple, and consisted of few formations. In New Zealand they had the full range of geological series. Although he had frequently heard people talk of having seen volcanic rocks in the vicinity of Wellington, he thought they were wrong, for all rooks about Wellington were sedimentary. They have been deposited by water, and there was no volcano nearer | Wellington than Ruapehu, in the

centre of the island. He would not conclude his remarks upon New Zealand geology without some reference to a subject which he had brought forward somewhat prominently of late—viz., the former connection of the islands, and the necessary sequence establishing a great Cook Strait river to cany away the drainage of the great valley of New Zealand and of Port Nicholson as a freshwater lake. The identity of the fauna and flora of both islands proved conclusively the former connection, and that must have been during the lifetime of the moa, or even the apterix, thus giving a respectable antiquity to the specific life of those birds. The connection of the islands indicates of necessity a rise of land, and a rise to the extent re

quired involved, no doubt, the conversion of Port Nicholson into a fresh water lake. It seemed to him to be impossible to get over the evidence of the identity of the flora and fauna, particularly of the latter, considering that the chief evidence consists of the finding of birds or remains of birds in both islands, with rudimentary wings, which birds could not fly, and certainly are not or were not adapted for swimmimg. The connection of the islands was doubtless also accompanied by a considerable extension of land, probably in the direction of north from Cook Strait and east of both islands.”