THERMAL ACTIVITY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 243, 4 March 1913, Page 5

THERMAL ACTIVITY.

AX IXTEUESTrXft INTERVIEW. NEW ZEALAND'S ORIGIX. By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, Monday. Professor Percival, of Freiburg University, who eame to New Zealand to study thermal activity, stated that comparatively recently, judged by geologic periods, New Zealand was raised from the bottom of the sea. Evidence of this could be adduced from the fact that there can now be found on Mount Eden shells of specimens of living species. This upheaval of the ocean's bottom, he said, took place probably in what is known as the pliocene period. At that time the long lost continent of Atlantis was in existence. The Isthmus of Panama did not exist, and North and South America were separate islands. All the evidence pointed to the fact that numerous scattered islands, such as Easter Island, with its wonderful stone figures, must have been part of one continent, for otherwise the inhabitants could not have gained their architectural knowledge. Owing to some great volcanic activity, the centre of which it was impossible to trace, this continent was submerged and New Zealand raised above the surface of the ocean. For some little time numerous volcanoes in the district had been active, but gradually they became quiescent. The professor's conclusions, as far as New Zealand is concerned, are decidedly reassuring. He says that volcanic activity throughout the world is on the decrease; the volcanic belts tend to be- ' come less and less active as time goes on, the quiescence starting from the. i ends of the belts towards the centre. As Auckland is on the very extremity of the New Zealand volcanic area, it is extremely unlikely that any further disturbance will be experienced.