SPARE HALF HOURS

Otago Witness, Issue 1898, 19 June 1890, Page 36

SPARE HALF HOURS

By F. A. Joseph.

NEW ZEALAND AND THE GLACIAL

PERIOD.

It is common now to speak of "The Glacial Period" as though that recorded an event in the history of the globe which occurred once for all ; but such is very wide of the fact, for the evidence in favour of alternate glacial periods in the north and in the south is amply conclusive. It is impossible on any other theory to account for the reign of ice in such regions as New Zealand and Great Britain, or South America and Japan, for we cannot conceive of an arctic climate in these localities, so far apart, at one and the same time, unless the polarity of the earth has changed in such a fashion as to have brought the temperate regions at" some time under the pole ; but such an explanation of the problem is quite untenable, while the evidence supporting alternate glacial periods is logical and tolerably conclusive— infact, as conclusive as anything can be established by inductive reasoning. It is inconceivable that at any period of the earth's history, since the seau rolled into their places and the dry land rose above the waters, the tropical regions were under ati arctic climate, though the northern and southern tropical belts may have been sensibly cooled down alternately, contemporaneously with the occurrence of a glacial period in the north or in the south. Although there ia evidence pointing to the occurrence of previous glacial periods, as far aa mere geological evidence goes almost, if not quite, all trace of these has been obliterated by the severe erosive effects of the last great glacial periodin the north 'and in the south respectively. The evidences of ice-action in New Zealand are conclusive. Let us then pause to examine these briefly. Whether the southern or the northern glacial period occurred first we cannot tell. We will assume that the northern great glacial period had held the northern continents in its

Icy ©rip for Centuries, and the cruel rigours of a polar cli mate had given place to almost tropical warmth. While the animals and plants, aye, and probably man as Well, were enjoying the glorious sunshine, wbich clothed the earth with verdure, an.o; made food abundant

in the northern hemisphere, these southern lands were passing through the life-extermi-nating influence of the last great glacial period. Where now the noonday sun makes glad the earth with genial warmth, cruel biting ice winds swept the plains, bearing down before them almost everything possessed of life, or driving living things northward to where the conditions were less severe ; and the sunny valleys which now are seen smiling with fields of golden grain ripening in the summer sunshine, or beautified with happy homes, and flowers, and fruit, were filled with rivers of ice. Where noble livers roll onward to the sea, slowmoving glaciers crept Inch by inch downward, crushing and grinding everything in their pathway till valleys were out down to rugged gorges, and high on the mountain sides now clothed with verdure