166 Transactions. —Miscellaneous. 
built. The price of granite, in rough blocks at Aberdeen, is from 2s. 6d. to 
8s. per cubic foot, and, in London, from 4s. 6d. to 5s. There are no regular 
traders between Aberdeen and Auckland that could carry the stone in small 
quantities, and no large ship would take a full cargo to come direct, conse- 
quently the shipment must be made at London. The cost of the stone in 
the Colony cannot, therefore, be less than 7s. per cubic foot. Port Chalmers . 
stone in the same state can be put on board a coasting craft, or steamer, 
for 1s. 6d.; taking the freight and other charges the same as from London, 
we have the stone landed at Auckland for 8s. 6d. per cubic foot, exactly 
half the price of granite, and there would also be a considerable saying in 
labour, as the colonial stone is much easier worked. The importation of 
granite under these circumstances is carrying the principles of free trade a 
little too far. There has been no time in the history of Otago in which the 
choice of a building material had so much importance as at present. 
To borrow the plan adopted by ethnologists, we may divide colonial 
architecture into periods or ages. First, the wattle-and-dab period, with 
its contemporaneous, but more advanced, varieties of fern tree and totara 
bark ; second, the timber period ; and third, the masonry period. 
On the goldfields, timber is preceded by calico and corrugated iron. The 
Colony is now in a state of transition between the timber and masonry 
periods ; we are leaving the frail and ephemeral and entering on the strong 
andenduring. We should, therefore, spare no pains in selecting the materials 
that are most conducive to health and comfort, and that will remain for 
generations a record of our skill and good taste. 
Art. X.—On the best Line for a Submarine Telegraph between Australia and 
New Zealand, By Tue Rev. A. G. Purcnas, M.R.C.S., Eng. 
[Read before the Auckland Institute, May 17, 1875.] 
In considering this question, the points to be chiefly kept in view appear to 
be the following: The distance between the termini; the character of the 
ocean floor; and the suitability of the landing-places for the shore ends. 
The latter point embraces not only the natural features of the locality, but 
also the relative advantages of position, safety, and convenience 
All other things being equal, of course the shortest line would be the 
best ; but, in our case, the shortest is the least suitable of all. The nearest 
ices between our Colony and one possessing telegraphic communica- 
tion with Europe is to be found in a line stretching between the south-east 
shore of Tasmania and a point on the south-west coast of the Middle Island; 
