III. — GEOLOGY, 



Akt. XLVI. — Artesian-water Prospects at Wanganui. 



By H. Hill, B.A., F.G.S. 



[Read before the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute, 11th July, 1892.] 



Having a few days to spare at Easter, I paid a visit to 

 Wanganui. My object was to form an opinion as to the 

 prospect of an artesian water-supply for the town. In com- 

 pany with Mr. A. Atkins, architect, I examined Shakespeare 

 Cliff, Castle Cliff, Landguard, and the area within what is 

 locally known as No. 3 Line as far as Kaitoke Lake. The 

 country extending in a north-west and north direction, as far 

 as the Kai-iwi Stream, and the Kaiwaka stone-quarries on the 

 Wanganui Biver, were also visited, including the cliffs along the 

 sea-coast towards the mouth of the Kai-iwi. In addition to 

 this formal inspection of the country I have consulted the 

 following papers which bear more or less directly upon the 

 geology of Wanganui and surrounding district : — 



(a.) " Geology of Wanganui," J. Buchanan, Trans., vol. ii. 



(6.) " Geology of the Province of Wellington," J. C. Crawford, F.G.S., 

 Trans., vol. ii. 



(c.) " The Wanganui Tertiaries," C. W. Pearce, Trans., vol. iii. • 



(d.) "The Wanganui System," Professor Hutton, F.G.S., Trans., 

 vol. xviii. 



(e.) " Geology of Western Part of Wellington Province and Part of 

 Taranaki," James Park, F.G.S. , Geological Keports, 1886-87, pp. 30, 31. 



Each of the papers named has some reference to the dis- 

 trict under notice ; and the geological sections that are given 

 by Messrs. Crawford, Park, and Hutton to illustrate their 

 several papers have enabled me to correlate the rocks within 

 a radius of at least twenty miles of the Town of Wanganui 

 towards the east, north, and north-west. Wanganui itself is 

 situated a little east of the 155th degree of east longitude, and 

 a few minutes north of the 40th parallel of south latitude. It 

 stands upon the right bank of the Wanganui Biver, and about 

 three miles from the sea in a straight line. The district be- 

 tween the town and the sea is made up principally of sand- 

 dunes. At the mouth of the river, on the right bank, shingle- 



