436 



Transactions. 



Map fig. 4 sliows the east coast as it is to-day, with the several rivers 

 running into Poverty Bay and Hawke Bay respectively. The plains are 

 not to be distinguished from the other portions of the land-area, for nature 

 heals wounds, and only leaves remnants of a past, after the manner of a 

 camping-ground in the case of Natives or a party of picknickers. 



In a former paper on " Artesian-water Basins of Heretaunga Plain " 

 (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxxvii, p. 432), sections are shown to illustrate the 

 growth of the plain, and reference is made to the Great Wairarapa that flowed 

 over the area long before the plain was formed. At that time my inquiries 

 had not extended to Poverty Bay, but the sections (figs. -5, 6, 7, and 8) give 

 in regular sequence the geological events and proofs such as are given in the 

 above paper with respect to the Heretaunga Plain. 



\T£,tC 



"kAAA /J/' 



\HAlt€/fATAHJ S-^ 



Povertj^Bay 



'MVJf/WA/ 



Young Nicks Hd 



o I s 3 A 6 miles 



Fig. 8. — Pkesent Plain-slope and Physical Features. 



At the time of subsidence a gulf extended inland of the present Poverty 

 Bay even beyond Kaiteratahi, and into this gulf, which is named Tau- 

 ranganui, several important rivers flowed. As in the case of Heretaunga 

 Plain, the rivers were and are great carriers of debris, and the plain as a 

 deltoid changing area has grown in a manner almost identical to that of 

 Heretaunga, so that the work of growing is still in progress. 



The cross-section (fig. 6) shows the bedding of the present plain from 

 the hills near the school at Te Arai, and the hills over which the road 

 passes to the Waimata. Along the plain is shown the location and depth 

 of artesian wells that have been put down from time to time, and fig. 7 

 shows a complete section of one such well. The present slope of the Poverty 

 Bay Plain is shown in fig. 8, which gives heights, and river-drainage, and 

 railway-line. 



