128

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW
ZEALAND.

MIDDLE DISTRICT.

In the matter of the Debtors’ and Creditors’
Act, 1862, and in the matter of the petition of Gerald O’Halloran and James
Ferguson, trading at Havelock, in the
Province of Marlborough, in New Zealand, in co-partnership, as General Storekeepers, under the style of “O’Halloran,
Ferguson and Co.”

On Friday, the eleventh day of November, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.

Before His Honor Mr Justice Johnston,
Chambers.

UPON reading this petition and the schedules
thereto, the consent of George Stuart
O’Halloran, a creditor of the said Gerald
O’Halloran and James Ferguson to the extent
of not less than fifty pounds to the said petition
annexed and affidavit of Gerald O’Halloran and
James Ferguson, the said petitioners sworn the
eleventh day of November, one thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four, and upon hearing Mr
Pitt as counsel for the petitioners, it is ordered
that until the twenty-third day of November
instant the person and estate of the said petitioners be protected from arrest, execution, or
other legal process, except under such circumstances as would otherwise render them liable to
arrest on mesne process.

And it is further
ordered that in the meantime, and until the said
twenty-third day of November instant, and the
further order of this Court, the estate and effects
of the petitioners shall be taken and held by or
vest in John Sharp, Esq., Registrar of this Court
at Nelson. And it is further ordered that this
order shall be published in the “Government
Gazette” for the province of Marlborough, and
in one local newspaper; and it is lastly ordered
that the said petitioners shall be at liberty to
apply to this Court at Nelson on the said twenty-third day of November instant to alter or vary
this order.

By the Court.

[SEAL.] J. S.,
Registrar.

266

MINING SURVEYOR’S REPORT.

ON THE GEOLOGICAL CHARACTER OF
THE WAKAMARINA GOLDFIELDS.

A careful observer of the various features of
this auriferous district will easily see that the
general formation of the basin of the Wakamarina is due to two different causes, viz.—the
“Igneous” and then the “Aqueous” agencies.
The principal axis of disturbance heads from
the Wakamarina and runs northerly to the
Pelorus Sound, branching in every direction to a
considerable number of lesser chains of hills
enclosing the several tributaries of the Wakamarina and Pelorus Rivers.

The geological features of this district show
that the Wakamarina as far as Havelock bears
more signs of an auriferous character than the
opposite and abrupt range between the Wakamarina and the Pelorus, the clay, slate, and sandstone formation being intersected by numerous
quartz veins, some of which have been proved to
be auriferous to a certain extent.

A glance at the general configuration of the
country shows to the observer that it has been
waterworked to a great degree, and that the
aqueous element has done its work in a peremptory manner.

The great accumulation of drift which has
filled up the whole valley as well as many
adjacent ones, is due to the agencies of the
“tertiary” period, and is probably the result of
a powerful submarine action.

A section of the valley would show a succession
of terraces from the foot of the leading ranges
down to the river, and in some instances I have
noticed six or seven terraces overhanging one
another, each of them representing a different
“era” of the continual washing down of the
river.

The appearance of the country between the
second Deep Creek (or Dead Horse Creek) and
the left branch of the Wakamarina (or Donne
Creek), shows that the water and deposits of
detritus must have reached to a considerable
height above the present bed of the river, and
from the great fall of the river and the many
rapids along its course, there is no doubt but that
the old water level has been as much as 2,000
feet above the present sea level.

The regularity of formation of the terraces
affords a strong proof that they are the result of
a primary formation of lakes due to some accidental cause.

Large slips produced by earthquakes and more
often by the undermining action of water must
have formed solid barriers and blocked up the
ancient streams.

These basins or lakes may have existed during
many ages, and of course all the streams running
into them carried detritus, and consequently in
course of time filled them up gradually with
alternative layers of clay and gravel to a depth in
some cases of many hundred feet. Not only one
large lake was thus formed but many others of
smaller size.

Amongst the largest of these lakes or sheets of
water, the most considerable without doubt was
the present Canvas Town Flat on both sides of
the river which was connected with the Pelorus
Sound, branching in another direction up the
Kaituna Valley, and rendering the peninsula
between the Pelorus and the Wairau an island.

Above each present gorge of the Valley, the
evident signs of the pre-existence of lakes or
basins yet remains. At the Deep Creek junction
a small lake existed, that the water and deposit
of detritus to which did not reach higher than a
certain point, is evidently proved by the fact that
watercourse beds were lately discovered and
found to be highly auriferous still retaining their
course in the present valleys; whilst at the points
where the streams corresponding with these old
beds discharged their waters at present into the
Wakamarina, it runs in a more Southern direction.

Above Deep Creek the detritus of large lakes
are still observable and specially at Butcher’s
Point or Six Mile Flat and at the Forks.

The formation of the lake at the Forks was
evidently due to the falling of a large slip, the
remainder of which are still visible on the surface
lyings of the township terraces. Gradually after
the overflowing of each respective lake created
the bed of the present Wakamarina and
the bed of the river wearing itself in course of
time deeper and deeper, caused the gradual drainage of the lakes; and thus forced the present
portion of the watercourse situated within the
space formerly occupied by them, cutting its