316 Transactions. 



of the Pleistocene glacial development in the South Island, a development 

 which attained its maximum in the Wakatipu ice-cap in Otago, and its 

 lesser phases in Canterbury and Nelson, where systems of gigantic glaciers 

 of the alpine type came into existence. In the South Island the Pleistocene 

 ice-masses decreased from south to north, and, though at that time they 

 made an appearance in the North Island also, they were there of even less 

 extent than might have been expected. The northernmost of the centres 

 of glacier dispersion in the South Island appears to have been situated in 

 the Hardy Range,* in Collingwood. In that locality the signs of former 

 ice-action are abundant and well preserved ; yet in the Tararuas — moun- 

 tains only slightly inferior in altitude, and situated in practically the same 

 latitude — the relics of the Pleistocene glaciers are meagre, and of a less 

 definite character. It seems apparent, then, that conditions in the North 

 Island were not so favourable for the development of glacial phenomena, 

 and that no widespread glaciation was experienced. 



These facts and inferences are quite at variance with the idea, expressed 

 in a paper on " Some Evidences of Glaciation on the Shores of Cook Strait 

 and Golden Bay,"f that the bed of Cook Strait during the Pleistocene 

 elevation was occupied by a great glacier rising in the central highlands 

 and flowing southward. In a succeeding paper by the same author it is 

 stated that " a large portion of the Province of Wellington suffered intense 

 glaciation in that [the Pleistocene] period. "{ In keeping with these views 

 of the extent of former glaciation of the North Island, Professor Park ex- 

 pressed the opinion that evidence of ancient ice-action and the products 

 of such would probably be found, among other places, " in the Wairarapa, 

 near the Tararuas." The only interpretation which can be placed on this 

 statement is that the author quoted believed that during the maximum 

 phase of glaciation the Tararua Ranges supported glaciers which deployed 

 upon the plains to the eastward. The evidence furnished by the Tararuas 

 themselves is entirely opposed to such a suggestion. Until some more 

 definite and conclusive evidence is adduced to support it. the doctrine of 

 widespread glaciation in the Province of Wellington, and more particularly 

 of the low-lying maritime areas of the same, is scarcely likely to gain general 

 acceptance. 



* See Bell, Webb, and Clark, Bulletin No. 3 (New Series), N.Z. Geol. Survey, 

 pp. 31, 32, 1907. 



t James Park, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 42, 1910, p. 585. 



% James Park, " The Great Ice Age of New Zealand," Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 42. 

 1910, p. 599. 



