410 The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. [Dec. 
The History of the New Zealand Fiordland, with a Reference to 
the History and Development of the Dominion, by the Hon. Sir 
Thomas Mackenzie, K.C.M.G. Scottish Geographical Magazine , vol. 35, 
pp. 121-29, ills., 1919. 
This is a readable account of explorations between Milford Sound and 
the cold lakes, in which the author took a leading part. The article is 
introduced by four pages of statistical and general descriptive matter 
referring to New Zealand as a whole. 
The Two-handed Clubs of the Maoris, by H. D. Skinner. Journ. Boy. 
Antlirop. Inst., vol. 48, pp. 198-211, 1918. 
The long-handled Maori clubs, pouwhenua, taiaha, and tewhatewha, are 
shown to have common characteristics, probably due to descent from a 
common ancestor, and this ancestor would appear to be the paddle. The 
principal steps in the evolution of all three weapons appear to have taken 
place outside New Zealand. What may probably be regarded as primitive 
forms standing near the line of ancestry occur in Niue and the Solomons. 
A related Easter Island form is noted. . H. D. S. 
The Coal Industry, (of New Zealand), Report of the New Zealand Board 
of Trade. 20th May, 1919. Pari, paper H.-44a. 108 pp. and 12 pp. 
of views. Price 3s. N.Z. Government Printer, Wellington. 
This valuable report is the outcome of a Warrant issued under the Cost 
of Living Act, 1915. The Board of Trade was assisted by Professor 
Hight, M.A., of Christchurch, who acted as assessor of the economic facts 
adduced, and also by Mr. Hurst Seager, architect, who investigated the 
housing-conditions and made recommendations on town-planning lines. 
The report suffers from omissions and inaccuracies, which are more in the 
spirit than the letter, and a formidable list could be presented by a strict 
reviewer ; but a truer appreciation tells that it is an unusually complete 
and able investigation, whose greatest value lies in the fact that it breaks 
virgin ground, and may well set a new standard for future Commissions and 
inquiries in this country. 
The report begins with a general survey of the industry, which is merely 
a compilation from existing publications. From this we note that about 
2,100,000 tons of coal are produced yearly in New Zealand by 4,000 workers, 
of whom 3,000 are employed below ; that the West Coast fields produce 
1,000,000 tons (or 50 per cent.) of this, and also the best coal mined in the 
Dominion, being a bituminous coal of very high quality ; that the output 
increased fairly regularly up to 1914, since when it has decreased slightly ; 
that the imports amounted to 500,000 tons in 1914 and the exports to 
300,000 tons, but that in 1918 these had fallen to 255,000 and 186,000, so 
that the Dominion had altogether for home consumption 2,500,000 tons 
in 1914 and 2,100,000 tons in 1918. It is irritating to notice that the coal 
analyses prepared by Dr. Maclaurin, Dominion Analyst, give the calorific 
value and evaporative power in unspecified units, which prove to be a 
mixture of calories per gramme and pounds from and at 212° F., and that 
the unscientific and ridiculous procedure is followed of multiplying these 
last by 60 per cent, to give some unknown value called “ evaporative 
power.” In Table 9 the substitution of a comma for a decimal point startles 
one by the assertion that 2,058 tons are consumed annually per head (should 
read 2-058) ; and why any rational being should bother to prepare logarithmic 
