A MOUNTAIN OF KERB-STONES.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2590, 26 April 1877, Page 3

A MOUNTAIN OF KERB-STONES.

One of the aiosfc. wonderful pieces of Ziatura| masqnry^probably, in this part of the world, is (says the Otago Guardian's travelling reporter) to be witnessed only a few -miles from Greien Island, and in a direct line with Saddle Hill. Overlooking the mouth of the Kaikorai River is a lofty eminence, known as Round Hill. It is situated on the farm of Mr Fred. L. Jeffcoat, and for a considerable time past it;-has supplied the main road in the neighbourhood with basalt of a very fine and durable description. As the traveller approaches the. top of the hill where the face; of che rock is exposed, he encounters one of the most remarkable formations imaginable. The hill appears to. be built of a whole mass of solid-kerbstones, chiseled out in longitudinal blocks, and dipping at an angle of about 45 degrees. No masonry executed by the human hand could possibly display greater neatness. The blocks vary from ] the size of ordinary street pitchers to three, four, and five feet in length, and they measure about 12 inches in thickness and: depth. They are cut with "mathe-, Statical accuracy, and built together with such wonderful neatness that the joints can hardly be detected. Mr Jeffcoat has the front of his house pavemented with them. The phenomenon of such a mass of ready-made building material rivals the singular formation of the Giant's Causeway and Staffa. These natural kerb-stones, as already stated, are composed of; very hard * and durable basalt* and..there is no doubt that when the neighbourhood be connected with the large and popular centres by rail the deposits will become most valuable. In. the same neighbourhood, near the base of the hill, there is" a wonderful landslip. A long square block of land, comprising some scores of acres, rising up towards Saddle Hill, is gradually sliding down nearer the river; The area is .about 10 chains in width, and ascends toTfte place where it hasrbeeome detached for a distance of about three-quarters of a mile from the river's edge. Mr Jeffcoat's attention was called to the circumstances about three or four years ago. He had fenced in his paddock at the roadside, and a few days afterwards he was astonished to find the fence bent in and some of the; posts dragged ,out of their place. An examination showed that the main road,~withits metal and watertables, and the fine live hedge of the opposite land, had- aho been, carried bodily downwards. They had slid out of the straight a distance of about eight or 10 feet. On either side of the slip there is a long straight rent in the ground, and the effect of the sides rubbing against one another has been to project a whole series of little hillocks of mud. Mv Jeffcoat thinks that this extensive slip is due to the fact of the surface soil and substratum of clay resting on a bed of fine sand, which become* extremely slippery when penetrated by the heavy rains of winter. Beneath this sand the structure is carbonaceous,, and it is believed there are extensive fields of coal and lignite scattered all over the neighbourhoodi only awaiting the progress of the iron horse and the aid of capital and enterprise to be developed in a way peculiarly beneficial to this part of New Zealand. •

Retort Cottbteous.—" Sir," said John Henry's wife to a gentleman treading on her dress, "you are delaying the train. "Madam," said he, •"your conductor should pull the belle."