13 



temperature of this earth cooled down, the 

 early forms of life appeared. The age of the 

 earth waa put by rarious authorities at anything 

 from 150 millions of years. The chalk deposits 

 alone took at least five million years to form. 

 In some parts of the country the very early rocks 

 were found projecting on the surface, a fact which 

 was due, among other causes, to the cooling down, 

 and consequent pressure and crumpling of the 

 earth's surface. The presence of as many as thirty 

 seams of coal in England showed that thirty times 

 had that portion of the earth's crust been to the 

 surface. A number of beautiful lantern slides, 

 showing types of prehistoric mammoths — whose 

 remains are continually found — as well as carboni- 

 ferous flora, were thrown on the screen. 



At the close, Dr. Graham Wills, President of 



the Society, who presided, proposed a very hearty 

 T»t« of thanks to Mr. Cozens for his lecture. He 

 mentioned that opinions in regard to the Bible 

 and geology had changed of late, and now all really 

 learned men, who had gone into the study of it, 

 fully agreed that the statements which we had in 

 our Bible were not in any way at variance with 

 geology. He went on to point out that the words 

 used in the original were often capable of a great 

 many interpretations, and the translators used 

 the one which they thought best. It was quite 

 obvious that there was no attempt made in Holy 

 Writ to satisfy curiosity as to the original forma- 

 tion of our earth. 



The lantern was under the direction of Mr. A- 

 Lander. Secretary of the Society. 



NEW ZEALAND."— By The Rf.v. CANON STUAET. 



The East Kent Natural History and Scientific 

 Society brought their programme of meetings to 

 a conclusion on Wednesday, the .Trd inst., when a 

 lecture on his recent visit to New Zealand was 

 given by Canon Stuart. The lecture afforded the 

 utmost enjoyment to a crowded audience in the 

 Art Room of the Simon Langton Boys' School- 

 kindly lent by Mr. J. H. Sharp, B.A.— the graphic 

 descriptions of the scenery, and life and industries 

 of the coimtry, being followed with keen interest, 

 whilst the pleasure of the listeners was added to by 

 the exceedingly fine lime light illustrations, many 

 of which had been reproduced from photographs 

 taken by the lecturer. In opening, Canon Stuart 

 took as his starting point the town of .Auckland. A 

 picture of a vicarage being thrown on the screen, 

 the lecturer drew attention to the prevalence of 

 the cabbage tree in New Zealand, and also men- 

 tioned that in the particular garden which they saw 

 represented there were over 1,(X)0 blooms of arum 

 ilies cut tor Christmas decorations. In a reference 

 to the Maori people, the lecturer briefly described 

 their mode of life, and incidentally exploded 

 the somewhat common idea that they were a 

 degraded race. He remarked that many of the 

 Maoris were wealthy,and,in fact, the acting Prime 

 Minister was himself a Maori. In the village of 

 Ohinemutu was situated the earliest Maori Church 

 —and, a picture of this church being shown. 

 Canon Stuart pointed to the beautiful but strange 

 Maori carving. The village of Ohinemutu was, he 

 mentioned, still inhabited entirely by Maoris ; in 

 fact, no European was allowed to go there after a 

 certain hour without a special permit. The 

 Maoris were very fond of their palaveis, and 

 lometimes spent a whole day in what was called 

 their " palaver " houses, discussing some subject. 

 The lecturer went on to refer to the great boiling 

 pools and springs and geysers in the neighbour- 

 hood of lakes Kotorua and Rotoiti — and he 

 described the terrible mass of boiling mua and 

 sulphur as an awsome sight amid a scene of 

 desolation. At Waimunga there was a geyser 



which shot up 1,700 feet in the air. At Kotoma- 

 hana the whole mountain erupted and another 

 crater evidently burst underneath the lake, with 

 the result that the whole lake was blown into the 

 skies. The pink and white terraces which sur- 

 rounded the lakes at that time were destroyed. It 

 was said that these would form again in time, 

 "but," added the Canon, drily, "I think itwill be in 

 time." Wairoa, a village 2o miles away, was de- 

 stroyed, and he and the party who were with him 

 walked over the tops of the houses of that 

 village. The village at the time of the eruption 

 was a missionary station, and the missionaries 

 had planted a great number of English trees to 

 remind them of the old country. When the 

 eruption took place in June — which was the New 

 Zealand winter — th'3 English trees had no leaves, 

 but the New Zealand trees not being deciduous trees 

 were evergreen. The result was that the New 

 Zealand tr-^es were totally destroyed by the 

 eruption, whtreas the English trees were not 

 hurt. Now there was hardly a single New Zea- 

 land tree to be seen at Wairoa. A picture was shown 

 of Sophia's " wharri " in the neighbourhood of 

 Wairoa, which was the means of saving fifty lives 

 during that awful eruption, and the portrait of 

 Sophia as she is at the present day was also 

 exhibited. 



In the course of a reference to the village of 

 Ohinimutu the lecturer explained that in the 

 district of the boiling springs there was no need 

 for any fires, as the natives cooked their food, 

 which was covered with sacking, b}^ placing it in 

 holes close to the boiling springs. Canon Stuart 

 next described the wonderful and changing 

 scenery which he saw in a trip down the Wan- 

 ^anui River. It seemed almost, he said, as if one 

 must say " Stop, I cannot take in any more." The 

 speaker also gave a graphic description of the 

 many magnificent falls which were encountered, 

 and then, after sojourning a long time in the 

 wilds, the audience were taken to Wellington — 

 their attention being especially directed to the 



