482 BEPOKT— 1891. 



But the northerly currents and the waves of west and 

 south-west gales slowly drag this deposit towards the land 

 around Kapiti, Foxton, and Wanganui, and, mixing with sand 

 from the rivers of that coast, together they resume their 

 northerly journey until, as the currents get feebler, and the 

 land trends more and more at right angles to the direction of 

 the prevailing winds, an increasing proportion of the sand gets 

 blown on shore, and is piled up in sandhills. This may 

 account for the vast accumulation of sand on the west coast of 

 the North Island, shown by the enormous sandhills north and 

 south of the Manukau, and extending to the North Cape, where 

 the phenomenon culminates in the whole of the northern 

 extremity of the Island for 40 miles being composed of sand- 

 hills 200ft. and 300ft. high. 



Any one who examines the charts of New Zealand with 

 this theory in view will see evidences in support of it. All up 

 the east coast of the South Island there is a more or less wide 

 belt of shallow water of 50 fathoms and less. From Foveaux 

 Strait to Dunedin Peninsula the coast is rocky and straight, 

 and the shallow water along this coast-line is narrow, but it 

 takes a straight line from the' peninsula to a point about ten 

 miles seaward of Banks Peninsula, and from this point makes 

 another straight cut to the rocky coast under the Kaikoura 

 hills. It hugs the shore along that coast to Cape Campbell, 

 and then spreads out to form the great bank of deposit at the 

 east entrance to Cook Strait. The same shallow bank of 

 deposit hugs the south shore of the strait, filling all the bays, 

 but leaving deep channels through it, where the tides rush in 

 and out of the sounds, and leaving a narrow channel in the 

 centre of the strait with 120 to 150 fathoms of water. 



The great bight formed between Capes Farewell and Egmont 

 is entirely shallow water of about 50 fathoms. At the east end 

 of the strait the 50-fathom line is close to the entrance ; on the 

 west end it is 120 miles away from the entrance. This seems 

 to show that the waves and currents bring the wear-and-tear 

 from the east and west coasts of the South Island to form the 

 vast deposits at the west entrance of Cook Strait. 



On the west coast (South Island) the 50-fathom line is 

 much nearer the shore, as the coast-line is straighter, and pro- 

 bably the sea was originally much deeper on this coast, but the 

 shallow water, in a manner similar to the east coast, fills the 

 bays and hugs the headlands. 



The charts also show that on both coasts the general set of 

 currents is towards the north. The prevailing direction of the 

 wi}ids on the east coast is south-east, and on the west coast 

 south-west. Also, engineering works and observations prove 

 that the material of the beaches is continually travelling 

 towards the north on both coasts. 



