388 president's address — section b. 



though mild shocks are felt from time to time over the continent from 

 Perth to Sydney, tTiey are of small consequence. Probably no part of 

 the earth can be beyond the influence of earthquake shock, and prob- 

 aV'ly no part is much more secure than Australia. The extinct 

 volcanoes of South-west Victoria, Mount Gambler, and Kangaroo 

 Island, however, show us that at no very distant geological time, later 

 Pliocene or Pleistocene, there was a long line of strain along the south 

 coast, and it is along this line, if anywhere, that we may expect 

 seismic and volcanic trouble. 



Perhaps even more interesting and striking as phenomena than 

 the einiptions on land are those which are submarine, especially if 

 they result in the permanent uplift of land. Submarine disturbances 

 are frequent in the Pacific. It is not often that a vessel contrives 

 to be in the centre of one, but this seems to have happened to 

 the " Hesper," an American bark. Captain Sodergren. His ship was 

 lying at anchor at Kobe daiing the earthquake shock at Gifu Ken, 

 and it received a sudden bump which threw all on deck off their legs. 

 Two days after the shock, " when about 75 miles off the Japan coast, 

 the bark was almost thrown on her beam-ends," writes the captain, 

 " by the sudden eruption of a submarine volcano. The water became 

 so hot that when a sea was shipped on deck the crew took to the 

 rigging. The heat became so intense that the pitch in the deck was 

 melted, and the seams opened. Great blasts of hot air with a strong 

 sulphurous smell came up from the breaking surf'ace of the ocean, and 

 almost sufl'ocated us for the moment. This phenomenon lasted for 

 several hours. I have had all I want of sailing in Japanese waters." 



The Rev. Dr. Brown witnessed an eruption in Blanche Bay, New 

 Britain. The water of the whole of the Bay literally boiled, and 

 cooked fish were plentifully thrown up. An island arose in the bay, 

 on which, when, 20 years after, he revisited the spot, a young grove 

 of Casuarina trees was flourishing. Several islands, as Niu Force, 

 have been thrown up in the Tongan group, and it is probable that 

 the volcanic islands of the Pacific all originated, and that others will 

 originate, in this way. 



We may conclude that the general subsidence of the Pacific bed 

 will continue where not interfered with by the forces of upheaval, ac- 

 companied or not, by volcanic eniptions. Minor oscillations in recent 

 times have taken place around our Australian coasts, upward as well 

 as doAvnward, but the general level seems to be stable, and we do not 

 anticipate the drowning of our ports and submergence of strips of 

 our coast in the same way as that in which the ports and littoral of 

 the Adriatic are threatened. While the Pacific may be expected 

 generally to grow deeper, we may also expect that the number and 

 extent of the islands will be increased. New volcanic islands will be 

 raised, and those denuded to water level will be converted into coral 

 inlands. Perhaps others of these may be built up from the submarine 

 plateaux. There is little likelihood of this upward counter movement 

 occumng to any extent in the East Pacific, and since the cyclones 

 originate over the open sea to the east, and travel westward, we 

 must make up our minds that hurricanes and typhoons will still be a 

 menace in the seas and lands to the west. So we can only recommend 

 Queensland to establish communications with meteorological stations 

 to the East, that she may have warnings in time. 



