.596 T'ransactions. 
explosions of andesitic voleanoes. The loose pumiceous sands and gravels 
about Lake Taupo, and the unweathered rhyolitic ash found over the 
country eastward, were probably blown out at the same time. 
The andesitic cone of Mount Egmont rises from a volcanic pile of 
decidedly older rocks of similar composition. Its relation to the rhyo- 
litic rocks is nowhere shown. But on phyisographic grounds it is clearly 
of Recent origin; and, since its rocks are of similar composition to those 
of the central volcanoes, this mountain is considered to be of about the same 
age. The Taranaki Plain surrounding Mount Egmont is covered with tuff 
aranaki Plain, is formed of or veneered with similar material more or less 
sorted by wave-action. On the other hand, the higher coastal terraces 
of this district are covered with siliceous sands containing pebbles of grey- 
wacke, but no trace of andesitic material. The coastal drift is northward, 
and had Egmont been active while the higher marine shelves were being 
cut the detritus on them could scarcely have failed to contain some trace 
of volcanic material. Probably, then, the last eruption of the Taranaki 
voleanic centre, which presumably produced the peak of Egmont, was 
associated with the Recent land oscillations that produced the 120 ft. coastal 
terraces. 
CONCLUSION. 
The deposits of Pleistocene and Recent age are, in New Zealand, of 
greater economic importance than those of all other ages. e plains, 
LITERATURE. 
The official geological reports dealing with New Zealand occur scattered 
thro various publications. А central Geological Survey was esta- 
blished in 1865, and the reports of the officers were issued with more or 
less regularity up to 1894 independently of other publications. After that 
date they appeared as parliamentary papers, and were bound with the 
volume of reports, records, &c., issued yearly by the Mines Department. 
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