A VETERAN GEOLOGIST.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 240, 3 July 1908, Page 6

A VETERAN GEOLOGIST.

MR. A. M'KAY RETIRES. A REMARKABLE CAREER. Mr. Alexander M'Kay, Government Geologist, has given notice of his retirement from tho Public Service under the provisions of the Superannuation Act. Air. M'Kay has had a remarkable career. It is' doubtful if any other man will ever know tho geology of New Zealand as ho • knows it. As gold miner and prospector, geological surveyor, and Government geologist, ho has studied the formation of this country since tho sixties—studied every portion of it with his own eyes. His hands caress pieces of rugged rock as though they were precious stones; ho knows that no two samples aro alike. The officers of the Mines Department state that if 31r. M'Kay is given a piece of rock, from road side or from quarry, taken from any part of New Zealand, ho can say within ten miles where it was found. Several years ago his friends grew weary of attempts to catch him stumbling in those tests. Such knowledge comes from natural faculty, aide<l by continuous observations, more than from any scientific study. . COMPARED TO HUGH MILLER. In his presidential address at the first meeting of tho New Zealand Institute of Mining Engineers, in July, 1897, Mr. H. A. Gordon paid a tribute to Mr. M'Kay, which was recalled yesterday by a friend as singularly apt, and not by any means exaggerated. Mr. Gordon referred to "Mr. A. M'Kay, tho Government geologist, a gentleman who may bo said to bo- similar in many respecta to one of the fathers of geology, namely, Hugh Miller, and who may bo classed as tho best authority we have on the_ geology of New Zealand at tho present time." The same friend recalls that a leading mining authority, who had had extensive experience in America before assuming an important position in New Zealand, said that Mr. M'Kay was in his particular way the cleverest man whom he had ever met. : GOLD MINER AND PROSPECTOR. ■ Like Hugh Miller, a Scotsman, Mr. M'Kay came to New Zealand in 1563, and up. to the middle of the 1 succeeding year followed the occupation of a gold-miner in. Otago and Whakamarina, subsequently visiting New South Wales and Queensland in the same capacity. In IS6G ho returned, to' New Zealand,, and .for the four j;ears following he explored and prospected in the south-west part of. the MacKenzie country, on tho borders of Canterbury and Otago. Tliero ho oxplored alone, and at all seasons of the year, earning tho title of "the wild man of the, MacKenzie country." Mr. M'Kay claims to be the first who refrigerated meat in New Zealand, having preserved mutton and game for long periods in the ice of the glaciers of the Southern Alps. I ; ' . WORK WITH VON HAAST. In 18G3 ho became, acquainted with Dr. (afterwards Sir Julius Von Haast, and contributed to tho fine collection of the Canterbury Museum then being founded by Dr. Von Haast. In 1870 he was engaged in prospecting for coal in the Ashley Gorge, Canterbury, where he.again met Dr. Von Haast, who engaged him as his assistant'in prosecuting certain geological surveys he had taken in hand at the instance of the Gov-

erument. After exploring tho central mountain region .of Canterbury and. the Shag ■ Point • coalfield in North Otago, the expedition returned to Christchurch, and during the following winter Mr. M'Kay explored and made large collections from the saurian ■ beds of the Waipara district in North Canterbury tho results being added to the Canterbury Museum. During 1872 hV explored tho Moa Bono Cave, near Sumner (Canterbury)- • . . IN SEARCH OF FOSSILS. During tho latter part of 1872 Dr. Hector was . in. Qhristchurch, and noting the additions the'museum collections, of the fossil sanrians from tho Wairnua, he; engaged Mr. M'Kay to make a collection at Amuri. Bluff, of similar remains for the geological survey.-. This"work ,he finished by.-March, 1873,. and brought to Wellington the very fine collection of rare and valuable fossils that has since been one of the features of the Colonial Museum. At tho end of 1873 ■ ho mads a geological survey of the southern part of Otago, and in the early part of 1874 of part of the goldfields of tho West; Coast of tho South Island. The same year he also accompanied Dr. Hector to the east coast of tho Auckland province, whore they examined the country, from Gisborno to tho : mouth of tho Waipawa lliver. Mr. M'Kay was then appointed a permanent officer of the Geological . Department, and mado over a hundred district surveys, and published full "and elaborate reports on tho different districts examined by him. He was appointed Assis- ; tant Geologist in 1892, but was subsequently transferred to_ tho Mines Department as Mining Geologist. , SCIENTIFIC PURSUITS. Mr. M'Kay was a Fellow of the London Geological Society and several other learned societies, including the New Zealand .Institute. In former years he was a keen student of photography, arid science is. indebted to him for tho telephoto lens, which was considered one of tho most important discoveries' in the perfecting of • the camera. Somo time after' he had invented the new method of long distance photography, tho English scientist' (Dalmeyer) 'wrote articles for scientific papers anuounciiig his invention of photography per .telescopic lens, and was moving to. have the idea patented when Mr. M'Kay submitted proof to the Homo societies claiming that ho had invented-tho ! pi ocess. some time before tho Englishman ' had thought of the idea, and submitted i papers on the subject which he had written for the Now Zealand Institute. A scientific study altin to geology is that of seismology, to which' Mr. M'Kay paid a good deal of attention from time.to time, with such results that ho became an autho--1 rity on the "faults" of New Zealand and ■ tho seismic conditions, of; this part of tho 1 world. Ho was selected by tho Government 1 to report on the' effects of the seismic dis- ' turbances so severely. felt at .Cheviot some ! years ago. ! PUBLICATIONS. ' ; i Mr. M'Kav's "Auriferous Cliffs of Ceni tral Otago" has been, a standard work for • twenty years, and promises to remain such i for many moro. Another work by "Mr. 1 M'Kay on the rocks of Coromaudel Peuini sula was , highly praised by the ,grea,t Eng- • lisli geologist. Sir A. Geikie. > Mr. M'Kay can . tell some interesting i stories of his old gold mining and prospecti ing ■ days. But lie prefers to read tho ' stories which his rocks tell to him. Tho 1 present story, of his 'useful life, owes notb • ing to his own lips, i