CAMPBELL ISLANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13750, 15 May 1908, Page 8

CAMPBELL ISLANDS.

IMPORTANT RESEARCHES.

The scientific expedition which set out for the outlying islands at the end of last year (writes a correspondent from the Bluff) is revived in the inward trip of the Jessie Niccol. It has been a memorable event, Disappointment Island wreck being its novel feature. The expedition left the Bluff five months ago, landing the Campbell, Island party in Perseverance Harbour on November 20. Two gentlemen of the party have remained at the island, Messrs. W. K. Chambers and F. S. Des Barres, of Gisborne. They have pursued their studies of the island rock, enduring the rigors and hardships of the subantarctic latitude, and these under the best, conditions are not by any means trifling. .Mr. Chambers states that if the pig once got the run of those islands — and it lias been proposed to turn it loose —rave bird-life would be exterminated. So strongly is this opinion held that Mr. Chambers considers legislative prevention necessary. Seals are supposed to exist, in goodly numbers, but the ironbound nature of, the coast has prevented him from making an estimate of their probable numbers. Mr. Chambers was very much astonished to'find starlings, linnets, blackbirds, and even, the sparrow at large on the island.' He had also heard tell of a New Zealand sparrow-hawk having been seen. He could only account for their presence by supposing they had been driven thence by stress of weather. He judged from what, ho saw they were acclimatising themselves to the 'island, and seemed to be thriving well and increasing rapidly. Mr. Chambers has secured large assortments of fossils and insects, some of which he believes will, upon further inquiry, prove to be new to science. He found traces of gold, antimony, and tin, but not in quantities that held' out the slightest prospect of profitable working. He located an immense de|x>sit of good white marble streaked with blue. Also, he found a rare mineral, zirconia, useful for manufacturing filaments for incandescent light. It exists in large quantities, but, unfortunately, its marketable value lias been reduced to a minimum—better substitutes having been discovered.