TOPICS OF TALK.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 229, 25 July 1873, Page 6

TOPICS OF TALK.

D.e. Hectob, in his paper published in the " Transactions of the Otago Institute," which we referred to last week, publishes an engraving showing the operation of in excavating valleys. He represents, in his sketch, the area of a mountain top which is above the altitude of perpetual congelation, and from which, he says in the letterpress accompanying the sketch, " the snow deposited can only escape by assuming the form of ice, and descending by its weight as a glacier through the valleys to the point at which it melts, owing to the increased temperature counterbalancing the supply of ice. At this point it deposits its moraine or rubbish heaps, and moraines further down the valleys are sure indications of the glacier having had formerly a greater extent. At the point where the ice descends from the plateau to the glacier it is generally an abrupt fall known as the ' ice cascade,' and it is at this point that the chief amount of erosian takes place, by which the valleys are eaten back N into the plateau in the lines of least resistance, so that the 'plateau is at last cut up into sharp ridgss and peaks, on which snow can no longer rest in quantity to maintain the glaciers, which consequently disappear, leaving only the moraines to mark the successive steps of the process. This is, however, quite insufficient to explain the origin of the deep excavations in the hard rock as above described, and the difference in the amount of the excavation on the opposite sides of the axis, irrespective of the character of the rock excavated (which is, in fact, the most resisting in its character on that side where the excavation has been apparently the deepest), points to an unequal subsidence as the origin of these basins. This subsidence has been the most rapid in the central and western part of the range, so that in the case of a long valley like that occupied by the Wakatipu Lake the slope became gradually reversed, and what was at first the higher part of a glacier excavated valley has become a depression without an outlet. Gradually depression is being filled up by the materialbrought down by the streams and carried from the moraines higher up the valleys; but this material cannot, especially where resting on the rock floor of the valley, have been subjected, to the action of running water after it has been deposited in the still waters of the lake, and therefore fails in one ofthe essential processes for the formation of auriferous leads, namely, the concentration of the gold from the lighter particles of the detritus, From* these considerations it is evident that it is only round the margins of rock" basins, or in positions above the level of the notch in the margin, over which the water escapes, that we can expect to find auriferous leads. High on the eastern slopes of the mountains are found patches of gravels belonging to the newer system which drained the mountain range previous to this unequal subsidence, and before the excavation of the deep gorges by the extended' glaciers of the pleistocene period ; and the gold in most of the alluvial workings in Otago can be traced to such patches of the older drift." It is a.matter of a little patience to master the scientific idea—now generally recognised as the true one as to the formation of the valley and the mountain gorge—so concisely put by Dr. Hector. As, however, bearing upon the question of auriferous leads, it is a mental effort that will amply repay itself. It is a common notion that the mountains were formed by the gigantic efforts of forces at the earth's centre —a sort of general game of high jinks in the vaults of the earth. It is almost easier to credit that than to believe that these precipitous mountains have all been carved and hewn by the same minute and imperceptible caiises that are existing in undeviating purpose at the present time.

It is rather a curious item of expense, but it is on record that it costs £SO per year to clean and wind up the public clocks of the Province. As a further item of expenditure, we notice it costs £I,OOO to entertain a G-overnor a week. If we had the choice we cer-

tainly would prefer the clocks. "What a fleeting thing, after all, is loyalty when we, in our wisdom or folly, have drifted to such a debased state of mind as this !

We have before now indicated the great desirability of our small out-dis-tricts forming themselves into Progress Committees, to obtain small grants of money in aid of local efforts. It is to be hoped that residents at Hamilton, Serpentine, Hyde, and Kyeburn will, if possible—and there should be no such thing as impossible—at once form such inexpensive centres of strength, so that, if it is required, a nibble may be made at the £5,000 the Government propose to get appropriated for subsidising Progress Committees.

In the Estimates framed and brought down to the Council we are glad to see that the Government propose that the civil servants of the country shall have a share in the Province's prosperity. The Provincial Engineer's salary, we notice, is to be raised to £6OO. This is no more than any man should be paid who is fit for the very responsible and arduous post of Chief Engineer of the Province. The Police are not to escape a small share of the additional pay. We believe that it is intended to give sergeants who have been ten years in the service an extra Is. per diem, and constables of five years 6d. per diem extra. The men who do the real hard work of the Province in the Government offices are those who will benefit by the proposed increase most —the sub-treasurers and under-secretaries. Of course these propositions have yet to run the gauntlet of the Council's economical humor, but it is to be hoped that the Council even will recognise that it is very poor economy to impair the efficiency of the civil staff by giving such rates of pay that make it one constant struggle for the members to meet the accidental expenditure no family can hope to escape.