Wellington Philosophical Society. 429 



ABSTEACT. 



The author described the occarrence of a deposit of auriferous gravel, under lime- 

 stone, at an altitude of 4,000 feet above the sea, and stated that it had great extent, and 

 could be worked with facility. It contained gold at the rate of over loz. to the ton. 

 Fissures and caves occur in the limestone, from which fine specimens of moa bones were 

 obtained. 



4. "On the Distribution of the Auriferous Cements in New Zealand," 

 by Dr. Hector. 



ABSTEACT. 

 The author gave an account of the distribution of the older auriferous gravels, a sub- 

 ject which should excite attention at the present time, and which he thought was very 

 imperfectly understood by the diggers, his remarks being illustrated by maps, diagrams, 

 and specimens. Comparatively little of the alluvial gold obtained was washed directly 

 by the streams from the rock matrix, the greater part of it being derived by the re- 

 washing of old gravels of great antiquity. These gravels were deposited in former 

 drainage channels, which have no relation to the existing river systems of the country 

 and are now represented by isolated patches, generally at a considerable elevation, but in 

 some instances below the sea-level. The earliest of these appears to have radiated from 

 the high lands of Otago as a centre during the cretaceous period. In the eocene period 

 the denudation of the auriferous rocks took place in the North-west District of Nelson, 

 giving rise to the gravels now at great altitude, such as those described in the previous 

 paper. During the miocene period was a third great distribution of auriferous gravel, in a 

 line parallel with the West Coast, from the source of the BuUer river (at 2,000 feet 

 altitude) to Eoss, where they are several hundred feet below the sea-level, so that the gold 

 has to be obtained by deep sinking. After describing the features of several of the most 

 important alluvial diggings that have been discovered and worked, the author concluded 

 by stating that the original auriferous deposits have a wide-spread distribution and are of 

 the nature of regular geological formations, and not to be confounded with the local 

 alluvia of the existing rivers and streams, and that the bulk of them still remain for the 

 practical prospector to discover. That the gold being less concentrated in these earlier 

 gravels than in the modern re- washes formed from them they wiU no doubt be more 

 expensive to work ; but he was of opinion that there was still a great future for the 

 alluvial miner in New Zealand, and to suppose that the diggings were in any sense 

 worked out was quite opposed to experience in other countries. He was glad to find 

 therefore that there had been lately a revival of enterprise on the part of prospectors, and 

 he was inclined to attach considerable importance to reported discoveries that had 

 recently been made, especially as they were in districts where auriferous deposits might 

 reasonably be expected. 



Third Meeting. 2ith July, 1880. 

 Mr. Martin Chapman, President, in the chair. 



PAPEES. 



1. "On the Fossil Foramifera of Petane," by Mr. A. Hamilton. 



This paper gave the results of an examination of certain fossils, by Mr. G. R. Vine, 

 jun., of Shefiield, which had been collected by the author. {Transactions, p. 393.) 



2. " On the Tertiary Corals and Bryozoa of New Zealand," by the Eev. 

 E. Tennison- Woods, Pres, L.S., N.S.W. 



