president's address — SECTION c. 47 



Hector. He scon iiiidertcok more intricate work, and the de- 

 tailed reports cf his explorations describe most cf the leading 

 features in New Zealand geology. The bulk of the 120,000 speci- 

 mens possessed by the Geological Svirvey were collected by him. 

 Hei became Mining Geologist in 1893, and later Gcvernment Geo- 

 logist. Any one traversing ground reading McKay's reports 

 thereoin, cannot fail toi be impressed with the arduoiusness of his 

 work, and the extent, rapidity, and accuracy of his observations. 

 He was the first in New Zealand to recognise the great importance 

 of the late Tertiary crust-movemeTits, and to formulate inde- 

 pendently a theory of blcck-faulting. 



Sir Herbert Cox. late Professor of Mining in the Royal School 

 of Mines, was engaged on the Geological Survey of New Zealand 

 from 1874 to 1895. Of his fifty reports, the most remarkable 

 was his elaborate study of the Mesozoic rocks of the Hokonui Hills, 

 to which we shall later refer. He later removed to Sydney, where 

 he wrote important papers on the coal and tin fields of Aus- 

 tralia . , 



Dr. E. A. Newell Arber, cf Cambridge, though not an Austi-a- 

 lasian geologist, has contributed very usefully to our science, in 

 his study cf the Glossopteris flora, and the Mesozoic floras of New 

 Zealand and Western Australia. As formerly one cf his students, 

 I shou'ld like to bear tribute to the keenness of his interest in 

 Australasian geological problems, and the lucidity of his teacli- 



We have also to deplore the loss tf George Hogben, to whom 

 is due the greater part of our knowledge of the seismology of New 

 Zealand, and of Henry Suter, whose last great work was the re- 

 vision of the Tertiary mollusca of New Zealand. 



We owe to m.en like these, the solid foundation of our knowledge 

 of the geology of Australasia, upon which a younger generation 

 is rapidly building. In every part great progress has been made 

 since the last meeting of this Association. The investigation of 

 the ancient complex of Western Australia is gradually revealing the 

 record of an ordered sequence of events, and valuable physiographic 

 studies have been made of the Caiiiozoic history of the State. In 

 South Australia, the reorganized Survey has made notable studies 

 of the great cupriferous deposits, and the problems cf underground 

 water, while our last president, Professor Howchin, has published 

 a most useful summary of the geology of the State. In the 



Northern Terr-tory, the wide extent of moderately folded Cam- 

 brian rocks is becoming known, while contrasted with this we have 

 the proof of the immensity of the late Tertiary orogeny in New 

 Guinea and New Caledonia. In Queensland, the stratigraphical 

 record is being revised, with notable changes in our conceptions 

 of the Mesozoic period, in which Dr. Walkom's palajo-botanical re- 

 searches have proved of great value, while Professor Richards has 



