SULPHUR SPRINGS IN COOK STRAIT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2123, 4 July 1907, Page 3

SULPHUR SPRINGS IN COOK STRAIT.

Mr. Meddings, the elotrical expert in charge of the- cable-repairing operations now proceeding in Cook Strait, has a theory that there is a good ileal of thermal activity in the bed of the strait. Ho is led to this belief (says the “New Zealand Times”) by tlie pecular manner in which the outer armour of tho cable (between Lyell Bay and White’s Bay) lias been affected. At some places tho -cable was found to be as sound as the it was laid down, and yet at no great distance away places have been found .where the outer ring of stout cornier wire has corroded almost through. This lie attributes to tho action of of sulphur springs on th floor of the ocean. Asked if there were any manifestations on tho surface of any such activity, he stated that so far as ho was aware none had ever been seen, ‘ but that did not weaken his theory, as the depth was in the vicinity of a hundred fathoms, and the action of tho strong currents in the strait would effectually conceal any trace of tho effervescence that the springs might otherwise produce. Some support is given to Mr. Meddings’s theory in that at times coasting stoamers have observed numbers of dead fish floating on the surface in the strait, which may have met their fate through some submarine disturbance of more than usual violence.