GEOLOGY OF NEW ZEALAND. 441 
much disturbed, except in North Canterbury. In Marlborough they 
rise'in Benmore to an altitude of 4,360 feet. In Buller County they 
form mountains 5,000 or 6,000 feet high, and at Mt. Hamilton, in 
Southland, they occur at an elevation of 3,700 feet. In the North 
Island the greatest elevation of the system is in the Hast Cape district, 
and does not exceed 2,000 feet. 
This system is quite unconformable to the Hokanui system in 
Canterbury and Marlborough. The coal measures of the Malvern Hills 
rest on the Hokanui system, those of Shag Point, the Grey, and the 
Buller on the Maitai system, and that of Collingwood on the Takaka 
system, shewing a complete stratigraphical break in the sequence. The 
paleontological break is probably equally great, but it has not yet been 
proved. 
The upper part of the system in Marlborough and Canterbury 
consists of a white argillaceous limestone (Amuri limestone) often 
containing flints. Dr. Hector calls it a deep-sea deposit, but it must 
have been formed within a few miles of land, and in the Kaikoura 
Peninsula has bands of conglomerate running through it, formed of 
‘pebbles the size of beans or peas. Near Oxford, in Canterbury, a 
chalky limestone occurs, which, according to Dr. Hector, is “made up 
chiefly of minute shells of Foraminifera,” but I could find none in it. 
Although remarkably pure, it must have been formed close to land, as 
_ the Oxford Hills behind it rise to a considerable height, and it is no 
— doubt the remains of an old coral reef. As no fossils have been found 
in it, it is uncertain whether it belongs here or to the Oamaru system. 
The Oamaru system occurs in the North Island in many places in 
the Peninsula north of Auckland, and all down the west coast from 
| Port Waikato to Mokau (Aotere series‘. On the east coast it appears 
| to be largely developed in the northern parts of Hawkes Bay, extending 
| inland to Lake Waikaremoana, and eastward to Poverty Bay (Turan- 
| ganui series), but the fossils require more examination before the proper 
position of this series can be ascertained. In the Wellington Province 
it has only been recognized in the neighbourhood of Cape Palliser. 
Valuable seams of coal lie conformably below marine sandstones 
belonging to this system at the Bay of Islands and Whangarei. The 
coal beds of Drury and the Waikato underlie the system unconformably ; 
but they probably belong to it. 
in the South Island it occurs at Takaka and Tata Island in Golden 
Bay, and extends down the west coast for some distance from Cape 
| Farewell, and is found again from Cape Foulwind to Greymouth. On 
| the east side of the island, commencing at Cook Straits, it occurs at 
}intervals along the eastern flanks of the mountains, all through 
| Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago, and Southland to the Waiau. Some 
| of the inland vallies on both sides of the Alps are also filled up with 
|rocks belonging to this system. Valuable seams of brown coal are 
\found at Dunedin, Tokomairiro, Kaitangata, and Nightcap Hill in 
I think that this system is ee intoliie to the Waipara system 
}in the northern part of Canterbury. No well defined junction between 
