IMPORTANT DISCOVERY OF MOA. REMAINS IN OTAGO.

Otago Witness, Issue 1156, 24 January 1874, Page 3

IMPORTANT DISCOVERY OF MOA. REMAINS IN OTAGO.

We are glad to hear that a report which was current not Ions; ago, that a number of moa bones had been discovered near Hamilton, has proved to be correct. Captain Hutton, the Provincial Geologist, has recently visited the locality where it waa alleged the bonea had been discovered, and ascertained from personal observation that an accumulation of these bones exists, in a tolerable state of preservation, in a swamp about a mile and a half on the ea9t side of Hamilton. Amongst the skeletons there are not only several species of the Dinornis, but those of the Aptornis, an articulated skeleton of which was recently exhibited by Dr Haast at a meeting ol the Canterbury Philosophical Institute. There are also the bones of some smaller birds, and these will prove of peculiar value, as hitherto palaeontological research, has not afforded much information as to the kind of small birds which were contemporaneous with the moa. It is estimated that there are about five or six waggon loads of bones in the swamp at Hamilton, and steps will be taken shortly to remove the entire quantity to Dunedin. The Canterbury Museum has been greatly enriched, and indeed has attained a name through the moa skeletons which have been obtained by Dr Haast from the Glenmark Swamp, and we have no doubt; that the valuable discovery of moa remains which Captain Hutton has lately inspected will, when set up in the Dunedia Museum, render that institution more attractive than it has for some time been. Nor will it be through being able to exhibit the moa skeletons in the Museum only that that institution will benefit by the discovery, as the number of skeletons will be such that the Museum authorities will b« able to exchange them with British and Continental museums for specimens of Natural History and other objects suited for our Museum. Captain Hutton may be fairly congratulated upon such an acquisition to the Otago Museum having been made at tha outset of his curatorship, and it is only to ba hoped that the Palaeontological department of that institution will not be the only department which will soon be materially enriched through his exertions. In connection with the above informat on, it may not be uninteresting to mention that a number of old Maori ovens were discovered not long since near the banks of the Clutha, in the neighbourhood of Moa Flat. The ovens are completely covered with silt, and have not yet been disturbed. It is likely that Captain Hutton will have an opportunity of investigating these in the course of a few weeks, and should he do so, it is by no means improbable that his explorations will result in considerable light being thrown upon the, as yet, unsettled question of the date of the moa's extinction.

A special reporter of the Press, in writing of the extent and state of the crops in the Ash burton district, Canterbury, says :— " The land on the road from the Rakaia to the Ashburton is a poor tract of country. For eighteen miles there is nothing to break the monotony of the road, but two poor dogs, who are tied up at the gateways to prevent the sheep from mixing. They are supplied with food and water at regular intervals, and tales are told of weary travellers across the barren plain stealing the poor dogs' water.' The same writer states that, " on the Acton Station, there have been no less than 100 ploughs at work at once this spring and summer, co less than 7000 acres having been turned up for autumn sowing."

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