WELLINGTON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 27, 29 July 1871, Page 6

WELLINGTON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

At a meeting of this society on Saturday night, W. T. L. Travers, Esq., President, in the chair. T. Cockburn Hood, Esq., F.G.S., was elected a member. Jlr J. 0. Crawford read a paper on the Physical and Geological Structure of Australia. After a clear and comprehensive account of the leading features of the island continent, he concluded with the following comparison of it with New Zealand : CONTRAST BETWEEN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. The most obvious contrast between Australia and New Zealand is that the former everywhere gives a nearly horizontal outline, while the aspect of the latter is towards the vertical. Consequently, in Australia the mountains are generally without grandeur, while New Zealand possesses some of the grandest and at the same time the most varied mountain scenery in the world. Picturesque beauty in Australia is generally caused by rock scenery, scarps of sandstone, or huge bosses of granite, when they break the uniformity of the usual nearly level surface, have a pleasing effect. In the canons of the Grove and the Cox, where deep valleys have been eroded from the sandstone, bounded by cliffs of great height, we have grand and wild effect, but canons ‘must be sought for ; they do not strike the eye of a traveller as he passes through the country, and nine-tenths of the inhabitants of Sydney, although they daily Bee the Blue Mountains ii? the not very far distance, have never seen these deep. and gloomy valleys, and hardly know of their existence. The open forest of the usual country, the grassy glades, the timbered spurs of the western slope, gently falling into open plains, are all entirely different from a New Zealand scene. The fiery glare of the midday sun, glancing through the shadeless trees, tho rich purple hues of the sunset, are equally absent from the New Zealand landscape, or are modified and softened by the moister air of the ocean-surrounded colony. Although tree ferns and palms are well known in Australia, the regions where they are found bear no proportion in area to the mass of the country, so that they are practically unknown to the bulk of the inhabitants. Every New Zealander knows a tree fern, a cabbage tree, or a nikau palm. The New Zealand forest, particularly in the North Island, is of tropical aspect. Take a description of a South American jungle —it would fit in, word for word, for that of a New Zealand forest, The Australian bush stands by itself; it has a peculiar character different from anything elsewhere. Australian lakes are few, and many of them Bhallow and liable to be dried up. In New Zealand the mountain lakes of Otago are equal to those of Switzerland or of Scotland, and in Canterbury and Nelson the continuation of these lakes to the N.N.E. offers scenery of the although inferior in beauty to t&at of Otago. In the North Island Lakes Taupo, Rotomahana, &c., with their geysers, hot water cascades, and deposits of silica, offer objects of beauty and interest which are unknown in Australia. New Zealand is a well watered, Australia a badly watered country. In the former colony one can hardly go for a few hundred yards without finding a stream, whereas, even in the better parts of Australia, the traveller may ride for a whole day before reaching a stream or a water hole. Australia has a continental, New Zealand an insular climate. Steady weather is the rule in Australia 5 in New Zealand constant change is the fashion. In Australia the mountain ranges only in one instance exceed 4,000 feet in height. In New Zealand Mount Cook approaches Mount Blanc in elevation, and heights of 10,000 feet are common. In the North Island are the volcanic cones of Mount Egmont, Ruapeka, and Tongariro, the two former about 9,000 feet in height. The Sui*U cones of Victoria are molehills in comparison, and are exceeded in height by numerous minor ones in the province of Auckland. In fact the New Zealand cordillera is on such a scale of magnitude that it would well form the backbone of a continent. The rivers of the provinces of Canterbury and Otago, if united on lower plains, might make a Ganges or an Indus, and the western rivers alone of the province of Wellington might, united, equal the Rhine or the Rhone. Such scenery as the sounds and harbors of the south-west coast of New Zealand —Milford Haven, Sound, Dusky Bay, &c., is quite unknown in Australia. These deep inlets penetrate into the mountains, and cliffs several thousand feet in height look down upon the tiny ship which ventures into these solitary waters. In fine, geographically, there are many points of resemblance between Australia and New Zealand, while topographically there is great contrast. The fauna and the flora are, upon the whole, essentially different.

Dr Hectob, in remarking on Mr Crawford’s paper, mentioned the recently discovered diamond bearing deposits in the Mudgee River in New South Wales. The diamonds are lound in abandoned gold workings, and must have been repeatedly overlooked by the diggers. Their immediate source is from a bed of conglomerate or cemented drift, small areas of which have been preserved by a covering of basaltic lava. According to Dr Thompson, who had recently published an interesting paper on the subject, about 2500 diamonds were obtained in the first five of systematic months working, and many thousands have since been collected. He recommended the study of Dr Thomson’s paper to explorers for minerals in New Zealand. A paper by Mr Duigan, of Wanganui, called attention to the great disturbance of the electric telegraph system of the colony, which was experienced on the 13th February last, at the same time the Airedale was lost. He attributed it to the same influence as that which gives rise to the aurora displays, and

suggested that this disturbance may have caused an irregularity in the deviation of the Airedale’s compasses. Dr Hector remarked that it was quite recognised that the magnetic needle was affected during aurora displays, but not to the extent of seriously affecting a ship’s compass. The disturbance of the telegraph was very important, and as the subject was attracting much attention he thought the author deserved the thanks of the society for having placed the fact on record. The President thought it would he advantageous if Government would cause a systematic record to be published of such disturbances, which he had been informed were unusually frequent throughout New Zealand. A short communication from Mr R. Pharazyn was read, giving an account of St. John’s nursery at Wanganui, with statistics of the rate of growth of introduced trees. The most remarkable instance was that of Pinus insignia, which had reached the height of twenty-two feet in three years. Captain Hutton exhibited a specimen of the Southern mutton bird, or titi of the natives, which he had discovered to be Puffinus amaurosma. He stated that, though common, this bird had never been previously mentioned in scientific lists as occurring in New Zealand.