Interesting Discovery.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1560, 20 March 1874, Page 155

Interesting Discovery.

The Southern Cross says:—An exceedingly interesting relic of the very remote past is now to be seen in the office of the Improvement Commissioners. It is the root of a tree found in one of the cuttings being made under the direction of that Commission. The root has evidently been chopped through by a stone adze which was found beside it. There were also several small" branches and roots of the same tree on which the edge of the stone adze had been tried, and the whole crown of the stump had the marks of having been laboriously and pati -uily cut through by the rude stone implement in the unknown past, and by one of.an equally unknown race of human beings. The root was found when cutting the sewer up the middle of Coburg-street, near the lower end, a little above it» junction with the continuation of Wellesley-street, and at a depth of about 26t't. below the original surface of the Barrack Hill at that place. From the surface downwards for about 14 feet at the place where the root was found, the hill is composed of volcanic matter. Below that depth, for about eight or nine feet, there is a series of layers of a mixture of sand and clay, which appears to have been at one time deposited under water. Below that is a large bed of line blue washdirt resembling blue clay. These strata and the blue clay do not seem to have been at all distrubed by volcanic action, and the several strata are lying with the utmost regularity possible. It was in the upper portion of the bed of blue clay that the root was found embedded, standing upright as if it had grown there, and the several small branches which were found at the same place were of the same kind of timber f and bore plain and distinct marks of the atone implement upon them. The inference to be drawn is not only that the islands of New Zealand had been inhabited long anterior to the migration of the Maoris to them, but that they had been peopled before the extint volcano in Uie neighborhood of the present Mechanics' Institute had begun to belch its mud torrents and streams of melted lava. This conclusion seems to be inevitable, whether it he assumed that the tree grew where the root and the implement of its destruction were, or whether, as some incline to think, a river had run where the blue stratum is found, and that the root had been carried from a distance to its resting place. In either case the root must have been where it was found the other day, Dot only before the volcanic matter was deposited on the Barrack Hill, but for a sufficiently long period before that, to permit a stratum of from eight to ten feet in thickness to be deposited. The discovery of this root in the position in which it was found, with the marks of the hands of man upon it opens up a series of the most interesting questions, and it is to be hoped that those who are thoroughly conversant with the reading and deciphering of the hieroglyphics which time traces upon the geologic pages of Nature's Book will carefully examine the subject, and make known their views upon the matter. The whole of the district where the Improvement Commissioners, works are now beirjg carried on should be. carefully examined, as there are doubtless 3 many interesting secrets to be revealed. It is the general opinion of those who have examined the relic that the unmistakable evidence which it affords, carries |ack. the peopling of these islauds to a period far anterior fo anything t]uit has yet been cla med for them. Ultimate Disposal of Sullivan. The New Zealand Herald says:—The sins of the Press of Auckland city in ex* posing and reprimanding the Government for the bungle they made in the release or attempted release of the murderer Sullivan, with a view to foist him upon our American cousins, are to be visited upon the

heads of the people of the province. Sullivan, who but for,a timely article in these columns would have been landed at Sun Prnnci.s.u, and from which would probably Imve resulted sojnfe disagreeable correspondence between the American and New Zealand GovprnmentH, is for the future to n side in our midst under the protection of Capf. Eye. Our instructions from reliable authority, are that Mr Sullivan has been duly transferred from Dunedin gaol to Mount Eden gaol, where he is to " complete his .sentence ;" which ambiguous term means, we suppose, that he is to be retained in Auckland gaol until matters are quieted down a little, and opportunity presents itself to get him out of the colony without the whither or the when of his departure being made known. We are also informed that no pardon was ever issued to Sullivan, but that he was shipped in the Mikado under transfer to Auckland gaol, his keeper receiving instructions to allow him to depart by the steamer if he saw his way clear. Whether this is the correct version of the affair we know not; bnt some inquisitive member will probably desire to be made acquainted with "the correct version of the story ; or, possibly, the American Government will desire to know more about the matter, when the Government will doubtless be able satisfactorily to explain the real position of affairs, and to clear up the whole ques tiou, which at present is only shrouded in conjecture. It can scarcely be alleged as an excuse for sending Sullivan to Auckland gaol, that he will be in safer keeping, seeing that it is not very long since it was thought advisable to transfer several desperate, criminals from Mount Eden to Dunedin gaol for safer custody.