38 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



in which case the shaft need not be deeper ; from the bottom of the shaft a 

 drive should be put in towards Mount Eden, till the lava or scoria beds are 

 reached, when an abundant supply of water would be sure to be met with. 

 This, flowing through the drive to the bottom of the shaft, would be pum])ed 

 up into the reservoir. By this method no piping would be required for 

 transmission of water to the reservoir, beyond that necessary for the 

 pumping nuiins. 



The other site, aiid perhaps the better one, would be by the side of the 

 proposed railway to Riverhead, at the bottom cf the valley between the 

 proposed site of the reservoir and Mount Eden. The advantages here would 

 be, that the railway would be available for carriage of machinery and other 

 material necessary for the ei-ection of works, and coals would be cheaply 

 conveyed for boiler purposes. The depth of this shaft w^ould be less, and the 

 drive towards the basin would be materially shortened, which latter advan- 

 tages alone would compensate for the pipes which will be necessary to convey 

 the water to the reservoir. The shaft, in this case, would probal^ly penetrate a 

 layer or two of lava : it will be advisable to avoid it as much as possible, to 

 save cost, and sink on the verge of the lava, and thus get all the shafting and 

 driving through the soft tertiary rocks. 



That water may be obtained from Mount Eden is already proved, indepen- 

 dently of theory, by the success of Mr Seccombe's well, which supplies his 

 brewery on the Kyber Pass Road. This well is only a moderate depth 

 down. 



There is yet another point to be touched upon, and that is, the volcanic 

 cracks in the earth's crust, which must necessarily exist with a seiies of 

 volcanoes such as occur here ; for it is probable that, after the first outburst, 

 other volcanoes started along the cracks, and the number kept increasing till 

 the number of vents created were sufficient for the emission of the pent up 

 gases and molten lava. Perhaps it is owing to the lai'ge number of volcanic 

 centres that have existed near Auckland, that they have been so short-lived, 

 and that none of them are now active — many have been the fires, but they 

 have burnt themselves out the soonei'. That the cracks existing between 

 these craters are cnj)able of acting as water channels is proved by the existence 

 of Lake Takapuna (an old crater). North Shore; for how otherwise can this 

 lake be supplied with water than from its connection with other volcanic 

 centres 1 To test this, a drive should be started from the pumping shaft at 

 right angles to a line between two craters ; this would be sure to cut the 

 connecting channel between them, and drain them of their waters and others 

 connected with them, and who knows but we may yet bring Lake Takapuna 

 •waters into Auckland by this means. 



The advantage of using these volcanic waters (if we may term them thus), 



