Hill. — Artesian-water Basins of Heretaunga Plain. 433 



The Tukituki River at first glance does not appear to have 

 played such an important part in plain-building as the rivers 

 already dealt with. The Tukituki did not always run through 

 the gorge-like country at the place where the river enters the 

 plain near Te Mata, on the south side of the plain. The lime- 

 stones in the hills behind Havelock tell a story of past change. 

 Thev are sadly broken and fractured along their highest parts, 

 and, as seen from Hastings or Napier, appear to sink underneath 

 the Heretaunga Plain in the direction of Roy's Hill. But 

 towards the south-east they present a scarp of 200 ft. or more in 

 vertical height that forms the left bank of the Tukituki River 

 as it flows through a comparatively deep gorge before it enters 

 the plain. The scarp appears as if the limestones here had been 

 broken off from the limestones on the right bank of the river by 

 some upward pressure, thus giving them a high tilt or dip under 

 the plain in the direction of Fernhill and Omahu. The great 

 fracture in the limestones provided a way for the Tukituki to 

 flow from large lake-like areas that at one time existed over the 

 whole country about Patangata, Waipawa, and Waipukurau, 

 following the period when the great waterway through the 

 Ruataniwha to the Wairarapa was closed, and when the Rua- 

 taniwha itself became a large lake of great depth. The overflow 

 from these waters entered the bay through what is now known 

 as the Middle Road, between Havelock and Patangata. but this 

 line was changed when the limestones were fractured along the 

 line extending from lower Patangata to Te Mata, on the south 

 side of the Heretaunga Plain. 



Now, the changes that have taken place in connection with 

 the three rivers named are of a comparatively recent date. By 

 this is meant that in comparison with other changes of surface 

 over the district the building-up of the Heretaunga Plain does not 

 express a long period of time in comparison with other earth- 

 changes. As viewed from our own immediate standpoint, the 

 present plain presents certain characteristics, and we are aware 

 of changes taking place in the surface-features of the country, 

 as the direct result of material that the three rivers bring down 

 on to the plain in times of flood, the Tukituki from the Rua- 

 hine Mountains, the Ngaruroro from the vicinity of Kuripa- 

 pango, and the Tutaekuri from the Kaweka Mountains. 



At the present time a large portion of the Heretaunga Plain, 

 as already pointed out, has been drained and made fit for the 

 abode of man. There yet remains, however, a fairly large area 

 of unmade plain, which is now in process of formation, the 

 portion known as the Whare-o-Maraenui Swamp area being 

 dealt with by mechanical means. This portion of the plain 

 contains over 1,700 acres, and it is the property of the Napier 



•28— Trans. 



