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so, the minima and maxima would have had greater agreement with those of the Dunedin register. The thermometrical register of the Southern Districts points to a peculiarity in the weather, which is this, that a high temperature in the morning is succeeded by bad weather. (See February 5th, March 2nd, 5th, 23rd, and 30th.) Low temperature in the morning, on the contrary, indicated fine weather. (See January 15th, 23rd, and 29th, Feb. 9th, 15th, and 20th, also March 10th, 16th, and 28th.) The reason of this peculiarity appears obvious. The region being close bordering to the cold and ponderous atmospheric currents of the Southern Ocean, any rarefaction of the air by heat over the land causes an immediate influx from thence, as exemplified by the South-West gales. The coast weather is characterised by frequent showers, and the interior by strong breezes, but neither of such force as to injure crops. This characteristic is hinted at in the paper of Captain Stokes above quoted, and may be accounted for in the following manner. The winds of this latitude being generally Westerly, and charged with the moisture drawn from the ocean, in coming in contact with the high and cold regions of the South-West coastland of Stewart’s Island, the moisture is condensed, and precipitates itself in showers on the neighbouring districts. From these data, and many conversations that I have had with Captain Ellis, the Resident Magistrate at Campbelltown, I am led to conclude that throughout the year there are no great extremes of temperature—the thermometer seldom rising above 75 degrees, or falling below 55; also that the rain fall does not exceed that of many counties in England. Captain Ellis also informed me that the weather is often more settled and agreeable in winter than summer.*

In a district like this, situated on one of the great volcanic zones, where terrestrial galvanic currents may be supposed to prevail, it will be correctly surmised that the surface sometimes indicates forcibly the presence of magnetic disturbance. This disturbance was more or less sensibly indicated in our observations; but the most remarkable is on the Bluff Peninsula, as will be seen by the following:—

On the summit of Bluff, variation 6 54 E.
30 feet to North of the same ........ 9 36 W.
30 feet to West of the same ........ 5 04 E.
30 feet to East of the same ........ 46 44 E.
On Macfarlane’s Run ............. 16 40 E.
At Invercargill .................. 16 32 E.

• On Dome Mountain .............. 17 12 E.

GEOLOGY.

In reporting on the formations of the surveyed district, it is necessary to premise, that as my attention was directed to another object, what I can now lay before the Board are only the results of such incidental observations as the exigencies of that object would permit of. That these observations will be meagre and unsatisfactory may be correctly surmised, owing to our survey tracks occupying the most easy routes, while the subjects of geological investigation are generally to be found in rugged districts difficult of access.

In the district, occupying as it does a central position in the great volcanic zone, of which the Islands of New Zealand form a link, it might have been expected that the phenomena peculiar to volcanic regions might have been found in the existence of vents or craters, but this is not the case; a circumstance which obtains all over Middle and Stewart’s Island. Crystalline rocks are met with in the higher and interior groups of mountains, and also on the peninsula of the Bluff; while the minor groups of mountains and plains are, in formation, entirely sedimentary, having strata more or less disturbed in position and altered in texture as we descend from the former to the latter. Thus the river beds of the Mataura, Oreti, Aparima, and Waiau, having their sources in the Eyre, Takitimo, and other interior mountains, bring down granite, gneiss, and other rocks as may be expected to be in juxta-position, such as porphyry, cherts, greenstone, and amygdaloids, proving the above groups of mountains to be of these rocks. The minor ranges, such as the Hokanui, Taringatura, Wairaki, and Twinlaw, show a stratified formation, whose layers are much tilted up and broken. These ranges very generally disclose a metamorphic action, whether induced by

• Two years having elapsed since these observations on the weather were recorded, it may be stated that they have been found to be substantially correct.

• The bearing of the magnet is affected in all parts of the Province where hard compact traps crop out. These are found principally on the higher parts of ridges and mountains.