402 Transactions. — Geology, 



after the land had begun again to emerge and recover itself from the depres- 

 sion which took place over a large part of the North Island in early pliocene 

 times." 



The above extracts show pretty clearly that as far as the southern part 

 of this island is concerned, that elevation has been the latest phase of the 

 forces, and if enquiry is pursued into the case as relating to the Southern 

 Island it will be found to be the same. I would particularly refer to a most 

 interesting paper by Captain Hutton, " On the last Glacier period of New 

 Zealand,"* which, whilst dealing with a period prior to that under consi- 

 deration, goes more fully into the question than any other, and contains also 

 some references to the North Island during the later period ; as for instance 

 at page 386 : "I will, therefore, in the first place give the reasons that 

 have lead me to an opposite conclusion, namely, that during the whole of 

 the pleistocene period, elevation has been more or less continuous over the 

 greater part of New Zealand." He then enters fully into the question, but 

 I must refer those interested to the paper itself, merely giving here two 

 short quotations. On page 390 he says : " Eaised beaches of pleistocene, 

 or of almost recent age are found at Motunau in Canterbury, and on the 

 north-west side of Cape Kidnapper, Hawke's Bay, but I do not know their 

 altitude. On the north-west side of Hick's Bay, near the East Cape, there 

 is a very distinctly marked line of inland cliffs ; and the same thing is seen 

 in Cook Strait, near Wellington." At page 392 : " Indeed, there can be 

 no doubt that the elevation has been very unequal in different districts. 

 The central portion of the North Island appears to have risen most, and 

 next to that the centre portion of the South Island, while the whole of the 

 northern portion of the Auckland provincial district does not seem to have 

 risen more than twenty to thirty feet, but we are almost without data at 

 present to estimate these differences correctly." He adds : " I don't think, 

 therefore, that the reasons brought forward by Dr. Hector by any means 

 prove that subsidence has been going on during the pleistocene period ; on 

 the contrary, I believe that nearly the whole of the evidence is in favor of 

 elevation." 



One of the clearest cases of elevation, as shown by an inland coast line, 

 which I have met with is that at Miranda, in the Gulf of Hauraki, opposite 

 Grahamstown. Any one who has stood on the hills above the Thames 

 river, and looked up its broad valley over the level swampy plain lying 

 between that river and the Piako, would at once be struck by the fact that 

 the dry land is a mere continuation of the bed of the gulf, and that the foot 

 hills on either side are the remains of an old coast line once washed by the 

 waves of the sea. The plain of Te Aroha is not more than 75 feet above 



* " Trans. N. Z. Inst." Vol. V., p. 384. 



