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Wallasey section shew a slight stooping as they approach the margin of the sandbank. This result would follow if a downward movement had taken place here. It is to be regretted that the section is incomplete. The foundation of the contorted tract is not visible, and the upper ranges of the curves had been denuded before the superior strata were laid down. The Bidston and Thurstaston sections are still more incomplete.

The hypothesis now laid before you, formed, as it has been, by the study of such fragmentary material, is necessarily tentative, and requires confirmation when other sections more favorably preserved shall have been critically examined. Such sections are no doubt in existence, and it is to be hoped that attention will speedily be directed to them. Meanwhile, we may feel assured that the last problem in connection with the New Red Sandstone has not yet arisen, and that for many years to come we shall continue to find matter for discussion in the formation on which, as Liverpool geologists, we must needs continue to bestow the greatest share of attention.

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LIVERPOOL GEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION.

March 5th, 1883.

At the Ordinary Meeting, held this date, at the Free Library, Mr. HENRY BRAMALI., M. Inst. C.E., President, in the Chair, the following were elected Members :

Messrs. D. D. Pritchard, Philip Owens, H. E. Brown, and Wm. Wright.

Proposed as a Member:

Mr. Isaac Roberts, F.G.S., F.R.A.S., Kennessee, Maghull, Lancashire.

DONATIONS.

Annual Report, 1882, of the Liverpool Law Students' Association; Transactions (Vol. II., Part 2) of the Edinburgh Geological Society; Ditto, Parts 3 and 4, Vol. XVII., Manchester Geological Society; Proceedings (Part 4, Vol IV.) Liverpool Geological Society; Ditto, No. 2, Liverpool Astronomical Society: from the respective societies ;—" The Geological Record,” edited by W. Whitaker, B.A., 5 vols., 1874-78, purchased by subscription; Croll's "Climate and Time," presented by Mr. Wm. Owen; Lyell's "Travels in North America," presented by Mr. Anthony W. Auden; "Guide to the Geology of London," by W. Whitaker, B.A., presented by the author; Woodward's "Geology of England and Wales," presented by the Secretary.

COMMUNICATION.

Mr. FREDERICK P. MARRAT gave a brief Note on "Vermes," (Class-Annelida;) and referred also to the tracks made by hidden shells.

Mr. P. B. DEUCHAR then took the Chair, vacated by the President, and a Paper, of which the following is an abstract, was read on

(Vol. III.-Session 1882-88-No. 6.)

“THE MINERAL RESOURCES OF NEW ZEALAND.”

By HENRY BRAMALL, M. Inst. C.E.

PART I.

The dwellers in a great seaport like Liverpool cannot but feel a deep interest in those distant Colonies, where our fellow countrymen are making for themselves new homes, conquering the wilderness and making it to "blossom like the rose," spreading civilisation, establishing commerce, building cities, founding Empires. And to none of our Colonies does greater interest attach than to that youngest and fairest of them all, which a recent writer has so happily termed "Brighter Britain." The author feels that no apology is needed when he asks your attention this evening to a few notes on the Mineral Resources of New Zealand.

Discovery. The discovery of New Zealand is commonly ascribed to Tasman, who sighted it in 1642 from his ships but did not land. The honor more properly belongs to our own distinguished Captain Cook who, in 1769, in the Endeavour, discovered the North Island, and afterwards in 1770 formally took possession in the name of George III. at Queen Charlotte's Sound.

Settlement.-No attempt at settlement was made till a mission station was founded at Bay of Islands in 1814; and the sailors and others interested in the whale fishery of the Southern seas made this a resort. Not till 1839 did the British Government proclaim New Zealand as a part of the Colony of New South Wales, and Captain Hobson was sent in 1840 to take possession as Lieutenant Governor. Landing at the Bay of Islands he hoisted the British Flag, and concluded the treaty of Waitangi with the natives. In the following year he was appointed Governor, and New Zealand became a separate Colony of the British Empire. Auckland was founded by Governor Hobson in 1840, Wellington by the New Zealand Company in the same year, New Plymouth and Nelson in 1841. The Scottish Free Church Settlement of Otago dates back no further than 1848, and not until 1850 was the Church of Eng

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