8 Transactions. — 2Itscellaneous. 



I think it unnecessary to notice further observations wliicli have been taken 

 in other parts of the Province. I may state, however, that I have been 

 informed by the officer who triangulated the Moeraki and Hawksbuiy Districts 

 (Mr. England) that, in many localities other than those noted, aberration of the 

 action of the magnetic needle pi-evailed to such an extent at the time he was 

 engaged on his survey, that it was in some cases a matter of great difficulty, 

 and in others quite impossible, for him to delineate accurately the topographical 

 features of the country from compass observations. The disturbing force in 

 this District, whatever it may be, exerts its influence beyond the limits of the 

 coast line. Conversing, only yesterday, with the captain of one of our sea- 

 going steamers, I asked him whether he ever perceived anything unusual in 

 the action of his compasses in sailing along the coast. He replied, ""i!es; at 

 Moeraki my compasses are always affected," and added that many other 

 masters of vessels had noticed similar irregularities. I was prompted to ask 

 this question by remembering some circumstances in my own experience which, 

 when I relate them, if they do not suggest a j^robable cause of the effect I have 

 noted, may at least be considered as a somewhat remarkable coincidence. 

 Twenty-five years ago, in the course of business, I held much intercourse with 

 the masters of vessels navigating the north-east coast of England. Frequently, 

 when the action of their compasses was the subject of conversation, I have 

 heard the captains in the coal trade (who, at that time, oftener held their 

 positions in virtue of their having certificates of sei'vitude than of competency, 

 but who, nevertheless, were generally shrewd, observant, and sensible men) 

 remark that in hugging the land when passing a particular place on the 

 Yorkshire coast, which they pointed out on the chart, the compass cards 

 danced about in all directions, and were, so far as indicating the ship's head 

 was concerned, positively useless. Many years subsequent to this — I forget 

 the exact date — those immense deposits of magnetic ore in the Cleveland Hills, 

 the works in connection with which are now giving employment to several 

 thousands of human beings, were discovered^ and to their existence, when it 

 became known, the erratic action of the mariner's compass in the locality 

 referred to was attributed — possibly erroneously. 



It is not my intention to-night to place before you any of the theories 

 which have been enunciated by the many eminent men who have made this 

 branch of physical science their study, to account for the phenomena connected 

 therewith. I have no hypothesis of my own to offer. I have sometimes been 

 amused — not only amused, but amazed — at the facility with which some 

 persons, enunciators of whimsical theories, by a fanciful manipulation of data 

 which ordinary mortals cannot comprehend, have given to the offspring of an 

 excited imagination or an erratic intellect the appearance of an absolutely 

 demonstrated truth. I do not, however, possess this faculty of hypothesizing. 



