Wellington Philosophical Society. 541 
Asa patent instance of the necessity for, and advantage of, careful observation, I 
may call your attention to the controversy which, for some years past, was carried on 
between writers in this colony as to the moa. Dr. von Haast, in a considerable number 
of papers, and up to the very last, has contended that these birds were exterminated long 
before the occupation of New Zealand by the present native race, assigning their destruc- 
tion, indeed, to what he terms—in contradistinction, I Meses even to their immediate 
visite in oceupation—‘ a race of autochthones." Dr. von Haast has been sup- 
ted in his contention by other writers of minor note, who, ‘eve: appear to have 
n very little opportunities of obtaining correct information, but who—like the pro- 
verbial far-off cow, which is always supposed to have long horns—might, in the mind of 
persons at a distance, have been supposed to possess special means of knowledge. 
On the other hand, Dr. Hector and other writers whose opportunities of observation 
and of obtaining correct information were very large, always ETE that the extine- 
tion of these great birds was a comparatively recent matter. is fortunate that 
evidence of a very conclusive charaeter has been obtained, did ds ipie the highest 
authorities of the day to pronounce judgment upon the matter, which has been done 
emphatically against Dr. von Haast’s contention. This judgment is to be found in 
Professor Owen's last paper on the Dinornide, in which he uses the following language : 
** As to the geological relations of the bones of the moas, reviewing the whole evidence, I 
concur with the learned Professor Igino Cocchi in referring Dinornis crassus, D. elephan- 
; D. giganteus dic robustus), and D. ingens to the * Periodo attuale, which is 
spei to the ‘neolithic’ or ‘recent period’ of * Ethno-arehsology. At the same 
time I think that certain remains from the fluviatile deposits in the North Island, 
representing the species Dinornis giganteus, D. ingens, D. struthioides, and D. didiformis, 
of a heavier and less recent character than the bones from the South Island, have come 
from birds which lived in * post-pliocene, or quaternary, or even earlier times. But all 
the species seem to have existed and abounded when the present race of Maoris set foot 
on New Zealand, and the final extirpation to have been of comparatively recent date."* 
Upon another subject of equal, if not indeed of greater interest, a controversy is still 
being carried on, but with comparatively little satisfactory material for the determina- 
tion of the points at issue—I allude to the question of the origin of the present New 
Zealanders and the date of their first arrival in these islands. I ventured to take part 
in this discussion by reviewing the traditions collected and published by Sir George Grey, 
in which a period of 600 years back is fixed as that of the arrival in these islands of the 
first Maori immigrants. The object of my paper was to show that, although the tradi- 
tions in question afford that class of testimony which traditions usually offer in support 
of the assumption that the present race is descended from the union of immigrants from 
the northward with people previously in occupation, they give (taken by themselves) no 
assistance whatsoever in determining the date at which or the locality from which this 
immigration took place. Upon this subject, also, we have Dr. von Haast and others on 
the one side contending that the present race is of very recent introduction to these 
islands, whilst persons well acquainted with Maori lore, supported by considerations 
which are not touched by the learned doctor and his friends, are clearly of opinion that 
the story of the Maori migration to these islands is a very old one indeed. My own 
opinion is that we are as yet utterly wanting in the materials necessary for the deter- 
mination of the question at issue, and that we ought to suspend all judgment upon it 
until the traditions and history of the allied races in the other Pacific islands, with full 
* Trans. Zool. Soc., X., pt. iii., p. 185. 
