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THE CAWTHRON INSTITUTE, NELSON. 



The Cawthron Institute of Scientific Research owes its origin to the 

 munificent bequest of the late Thomas Cawthron, merchant, of Nelson, 

 who left the sum of nearly 24 0,000 for the purchase of land and 

 the establishment and maintenance of a technical school, institute, 

 and museum, to be called the Cawthron Institute. 



On the advice of a commission of New Zealand scientific men, 

 it was decided that the Institute should be a research Institute, the 

 chief object of which should be to investigate problems in connec- 

 tion with the industries of New Zealand, particularly agriculture and 

 horticulture. 



" Fellworth," the site of the Institute, is a large private house 

 which has been fitted up as a collection of laboratories, offices, a 

 museum, and a library. 



The museum is of interest in that it contains a photographic 

 record of the work of the Institute, maps showing the progress of 

 the soil survey of the Nelson Provincial District, an interesting 

 entomological collection, and an irreplaceable set of Sevres and 

 Meissen ware. 



The grounds of the Institute have been laid out to demonstrate 

 the effect of different fertilizers on a number of different types of 

 soil, and will be found of great interest to students of agriculture. 



The library probably contains the most complete collection of 

 entomological literature to be found in Australasia. 



T. H. EASTERFIELD. 



GEOLOGICAL NOTES ON BANKS PENINSULA, CANTERBURY. 



The oldest rocks of Banks Peninsula are slates and greywackes 

 exposed near Gebbie's Pass at the head of Lyttelton Harbour, and 

 covering them are rhyolites with dykes of pitch stone. The great 

 mass of the peninsula has, however, been built up chiefly of 

 andesites and basalts poured forth from the two great craters of 

 Lyttelton and Akaroa. Subordinate later eruptions, also of andesites 

 and basalts, took place from Mount Herbert (3,050 ft.), the highest 

 elevation of the mountain complex, lying to the south of Lyttelton 

 Harbour. 



The whole area suffered from extensive stream-erosion when 

 the land was higher, but subsequently depression set in, and the 

 combined effect of these two agencies on the complex volcanic mass 

 is responsible for, the dominant landscape features. An impressive 

 view of Akaroa Harbour is obtained from the hilltop (1,200 ft.) ; 

 the great caldera lies below, its entrance guarded by giant cliffs, 

 rising sheer 500 ft. on the southern side. The stream-enlarged 

 hollow with its drowned valleys is ten miles in length, and into the 

 centre stretches the small peninsula of Onawe noted historically 

 as the scene of the massacre of South Island Maoris by the 

 conquering chief Te Rauparaha, but interesting geologically for 

 the presence of a mass of syenite and gabbro at its extremity, the 

 only occurrence of plutonic rocks in the district. 



