378 Proceedings. 



Second Meeting. I8th August, 1873. 

 J. C. Ci'awford, F.G.S., Vice-President, in the chair. 

 His Excellency Sir James Fergusson and about 30 members were present. 



1. " Port ISTicholson an ancient Fresh-water Lake," by J. C. Crawford, 

 F.G.S. {Transactions, p. 290.) 



The Hon. Mr. Waterhouse wished to know whether any fresh-water 

 shells had been found, or any evidence of glacial action. 



The author stated that fresh-water shells were mixed vip with marine 

 shells. He had observed no glacial marks. 



Mr. George pointed out that in the borings for the patent slip at Evans 

 Bay no shells were found deeper than 2 feet below the surface. 



Dr. Hector described the chai'acter of the valley which descends from the 

 Tararua Mountains, the lower part of which forms Wellington harbour, and 

 said that he considered it a valley of erosion, and that there was no evidence 

 of its ever having been occupied by the sea to a much greater extent than at 

 present. Drifts belonging to earlier valley systems are to be found up to 

 1,000 feet above the sea, but only on the west side of the harbour. The 

 destruction of these showed that the harbour basin had been, at all events, 

 greatly widened, if not also excavated, since these drifts were formed, and 

 there was no reason to suppose that they, or any of the subsequently formed 

 deposits that skirt the harbour, were of marine origin. Except the slight rise 

 of the shore-line in very recent times, the most evident change has been the 

 erosion by the sea of the ancient barrier across the outlet of the harbour. 

 This was, no doubt, assisted by inequalities in the movement of the parallel 

 ranges among which the harbour lies. Such inequalities of movement have 

 actually been observed within the last thirty years, and their tendency appears to 

 be to throw the outlet of the valley towards the east. He, therefore, on the 

 whole, was inclined to agree with the author of the paper. 



Captain Hutton agreed with the author that the harbour had been hollowed 

 out by sub-aerial denudation, but there was no evidence that it had ever 

 formed a lake. The pleistocene beds, on which a large pai-t of Wellington 

 was built, were distinctly stratified, and therefore must have been deposited in 

 still water; but they rose to a height of 150 feet above the sea level, and 

 were continued uninterruptedly across to Island Bay. Wellington harbour 

 had, therefore, geologically speaking, three openings, viz., the present entrance, 

 that between Evans and Lyall Bays, and that from Te Aro to Island Bay. But 

 no lake can have more than one opening, consequently the pleistocene beds of 

 Thorndon, Te Aro, and the cutting going down into Evans Bay, must be 

 either marine, or else they must have been formed in a lake in which 

 Mount Victoria and Miramar Peninsula stood as islands. The latter 



