TELEGRAMS.

Grey River Argus, 24 November 1910, Page 6

TELEGRAMS.

The ponies and dogs are still on the quarantine station a-t Quail Island. There they have, been practised ia sledge work and have acquitted themselves admirably. They will be the las* to go on board, and will probably be taken to land on Friday evening and then sent to their allotted places on Saturday morning. To-day I had an opportunity of inspecting the ponies' stalls in the forecastle, -which seems to be as comfortable as it can be made. Last night I had a long conversation with Mr Griffith Taylor, the principal geologist, to whom I referred in a previous messag-c. He had just come back from his visit to Mt. Cook, and he has spent some time amongst the. Swiss mountains. He was able 'to give me somei interesting comparisons betwen Southern alpines and Northern ones. He says that our Alys are much more accessible than those in Switzerland, and the glaciers here are much larger. GeoTogicaily, the moisit striking 'feature of Mt. Cook is the enormous quantities of material deposited in the form of moraines. Anoclier jKji-nt ia favour of -New Zealand is 'that its glaciers have comparatively level (surfaces, and are consequently less dangerous and easier to traverse. His praise of the beauty of our Southern Alps is ■tempere-i, " , but not depreciated, by reference to the want of bright colours in the alpine* flora. Here it is a defect which . was somewhat frankly pointed out 'to me by Dr. Heim, the famous Swiss geologist. A few years ago Dr Heim said that the mountains in' New Zealand reminded him of a grave3>-ard, because all 'the native flow ers were either white or yellow. The. comparison did not occur to Mr Taylor, but he said that he 'could hardly help noting the utter absence of _ vast expanses — acres upon acres — of red, blue, and other conspicuous flowers he had seen on mountain slopes of Switzerland. In regard to vegetation of all kinds, from clusters of plant' communities to forest growth, the Swiss Alps had a marked advantage. In spite of this he speaks enthusiastically of 'the magnificent scenes he saw at Mount Cook.