(Paranephrops planifrons).

New Zealand has three species of so-called freshwater crayfish, which, since they have powerful pincers, have more the appearance of lobsters.

They are found in most districts in small streams, lakes, and ponds. At Rotorua the Maoris fish for these crayfish by lowering small bushes to the bottom of the lake. The crayfish shelter underneath from the light, and as the Maori fisherman slowly hauls the bush to the surface the crayfish come up with it. These crayfish are about 5 in. in length and are of dull greenish colour. Just prior to moulting, crayfish form a dome-shaped limy body internally. This acts as a reservoir of lime to be dissolved and later used in the formation of a new shell.

by Arthur William Baden Powell, Assistant Director, Auckland Institute and Museum.

There are two species of crayfish (more correctly crawfish) in New Zealand waters. The commoner is the spiny crayfish (Jasus lalandei) which may be found anywhere along the coastline where conditions are suitable. It lives below tide level in rocky areas, in caverns, in the shelter of seaweed, or at times half buried in sandy gravel. Until recently it was thought that the spiny crayfish was the same as that occurring in Tristan da Cunha, South Africa, South Australia, and Chile, but it is now believed that all these places may have their own distinct species, which differ slightly from each other. The New Zealand variety is spiny (as its name implies) and brightly coloured, variously marked with reddish purple and orange, though these colours change to a uniform red on cooking. The mature males may reach a length of 20 in. and are usually bigger than the mature females.

In the warmer waters of the North Island the females first mature at about 7½ in. in total length and though they may exceed 10 in. in length, these are seldom caught. As one goes south the length of first maturity increases progressively, so that off Southland this is from 10 to 13 in. Egg laying takes place between early April and late May, but there are considerable seasonal and geographical fluctuations. After the eggs are laid in great numbers, they are attached to the silklike hairs of the swimmerettes (pleopods) under the tail by a clear fluid produced from glands situated at the base of these legs. The fluid hardens and binds the small eggs in grapelike bunches to these hairs.

The eggs hatch in some five or six months and, on hatching, the small transparent larvae resemble squashed spiders, about the size of a letter “o” on this page. At first they swim towards light and so keep in the surface water, but later they shun the light and make their way into deeper water, where for about nine months they probably drift in ocean currents. All through their larval growth they are transparent to the unaided eye, and finally they reach a body size of nearly that of a florin. Growth takes place by casting off the outer skin (moulting) and by subsequent swelling up as a result of water intake. The flattened shape of the larva is lost at a single moult, when it is transformed (metamorphosed) into an inch-long transparent crayfish. It now swims inshore, seeks shelter, and takes on the colour of its parents, and there it continues to grow by a series of moults to reach a total length of some 3 in. in about two years from the time of hatching. After the second year growth is slower and averages 1 to 1½ in. each year, but this varies from place to place according to sea conditions and the availability of the food supply.

Much less is known about the smooth-tailed, green, or “packhorse” crayfish (Jasus verreauxi syn. J. hugelii), which is most abundant in the Coromandel and Bay of Plenty areas. This crayfish is much larger than the spiny crayfish and frequently exceeds 24 in. in length. It is easily distinguished from the commoner one, not only by its colour which varies from dark brown to olive green, but also by the smooth upper surface of its tail segments.

by Richard Bevis Pike, B.SC., PH.D.(READING), Senior Lecturer in Zoology, Victoria University of Wellington.

(1817–89).

Explorer and geologist.

A new biography of Crawford, James Coutts appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

J. C. Crawford, the son and grandson of naval officers, attended the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, and before his resignation at the age of 21 had attained the rank of sub-lieutenant. He then decided to try his fortune and capital in the antipodes, and in June 1838 arrrived at Sydney. Almost immediately, with the assistance of an excellent overseer with Australian experience, he purchased a herd of cattle from Braidwood, near Goulburn, and drove them to Adelaide. At the end of 1839 he sailed for New Zealand, calling at Kapiti and Mana before landing at Korohiwa, from where he walked to Port Nicholson (Wellington). The New Zealand Company land-purchase negotiations had just been completed and Crawford crossed the strait to Queen Charlotte and Pelorus Sounds before returning to Wellington shortly after the first settlers had disembarked.

While camped on Petone Beach he bought five New Zealand Company land orders for 1,300 guineas, which entitled him to select 5 town acres and 500 country acres on the completion of surveys. He decided on Watts Peninsula, where he established a cattle farm, and revisited Australia to buy stock. In December 1840 he went back to England for a six-year period, but on his return to Wellington threw himself into the task of developing his estate, draining Burnham Lake in the centre of the Miramar flat by a tunnel through the coastal rim rock to Evans Bay.

Crawford, a keen amateur geologist, began in December 1861 a geological reconnaissance of the province. That month, with a mixed European-Maori party, he left for the upper Wanganui River, reaching Utapu, just below the Tangarakau junction, but he was refused permission to inspect the coal seam in the tributary, which was the main purpose of the journey. Obliged to return, he then visited the upper Rangitikei and Moawhango Valleys. The party left the Moawhango at the junction of the Otuareiawa Stream near Pawerawera and continued on to Turangarere and across the plateau to Tokaanu, returning to the west of the volcanoes to the Ongarue-Wanganui junction. Although in no sense a pioneer journey, it was a significant visit to a still comparatively unknown area.

In 1863 Crawford made his most noted contribution to exploration by the ascent of a ridge in the southern Tararua Range. Prevented by flood from proceeding up either the Waiohine or Ruamahanga Rivers, he continued round the foothills to the Manawatu via the Pahiatua Track. At Otaki he induced the ferryman, Manahi, to accompany him up the Waiotauru to the Otaki Forks. Not far above the junction he climbed through the bush to points on the open ridge, known today as Table Top and Dennan, from where he saw the “Maunga Huka” (Mount Hector) ridge. Later in the same year he reported on the geology of the Wairarapa east coast. In 1864 he acted for a few months as Goldfields Warden and Resident Magistrate. A versatile man of varied but somewhat dilettante interests, Crawford did not meet with the degree of success either in his business affairs or in his scientific pursuits that his energy and ability would seem to have promised. In addition, however, to his geological reports to the Wellington Provincial Council, he contributed many papers on geology, natural history, and agriculture to the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute. In 1880 he published his Recollections of Travel in Australia and New Zealand, where his main expeditions are summarised. He was a member of the Legislative Council from 1860–67, and was for nearly 15 years Resident Magistrate and Sheriff at Wellington.

Crawford married (1) Sophia, daughter of Admiral Sir J. W. Dundas on 28 November 1843, and (2) Jessie, daughter of Alexander McBarnett, August 1857, whose son, Major McBarnett, gave the name Miramar to the estate.

Crawford died in London on 8 April 1889.

by Austin Graham Bagnall, M.A., A.L.A., Librarian, National Library Centre, Wellington.

New Zealand has a considerable fauna of crabs, but, except for a deep-water southern species, they are not large enough to be of commercial value. The large shore crab (Leptograpsus variegatus) is the aggressive creature that scuttles away into rock crevices when disturbed. With back to the wall he always shows fight – claws open and raised ready to contest with any intruder. This crab grows to about 6 in. across and is mottled dull reddish-purple and white edged with violet. The swimming crab (Ovalipes bipustulatus) is common at low tide on open sandy beaches. Note that the hindermost pair of legs are designed as paddles, equally effective both for swimming and for quick burrowing into the sand. When disturbed this crab just disappears vertically into the sand with great rapidity. The camouflaged spider crab (Paramithrax peronii) is the slender-legged triangular-bodied crab which is rendered inconspicuous by a tangled covering of marine growth, self-attached to hooked, hairlike processes adapted for the purpose. One small freshwater crab is known from northern New Zealand (Hymenosoma lacustris), related to species from Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, and Victoria. The half crab (Petrolisthes elongatus) one of our most abundant species, literally swarms under intertidal stones in the north. It differs from other crabs in possessing long antennae; its colouring is greenish-blue.

by Arthur William Baden Powell, Assistant Director, Auckland Institute and Museum.

(1870–1943).

Journalist and Maori scholar.

A new biography of Cowan, James appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

James Cowan, the son of William Andrew Cowan, a King Country farmer from County Down, Ireland, and Elizabeth Jane, née Qualtough, was born at Pakuranga, Auckland, on 14 April 1870, shortly after his father, who had seen considerable action in the Maori Wars in the Waikato, had commenced to break in a landholding which included part of the battlefield of Orakau. For 10 years the Cowan family lived on the border of the King Country under the shelter of an Armed Constabulary stockade, and young Cowan, even in childhood, surrendered to the charm of the storied locality and its Maori inhabitants. As the military and racial tension relaxed, James Cowan found himself drawn closer and closer to the family's Maori neighbours. He quickly learned the Maori tongue and developed an admiration and affection for the people, soon to colour his whole existence. In his late teens he began a journalistic apprenticeship in Auckland, and when he forsook the reporting staff of the Auckland Sun for a publicity post with the newly formed Tourist Department in Wellington, he had already begun writing about Maori place names, customs, and legends. His new work took him all over New Zealand and widened his horizons as far as the Maori race was concerned. From being an interesting sideline, Maori history, legend, and language developed for him into an engrossing study.

Cowan had a genuine love for the elegance and beauty of the Maori language, and one of his special gifts was a discerning eye for sources of legend and folklore. He had a meticulous regard for the correct spelling of the most difficult place names, and never heard a new one without searching out its picturesque meaning. In doing so, he preserved much that would otherwise have been lost with the passing of the old Maori identities. His principal publication, sponsored by the Government, was The History of the New Zealand Wars and the Pioneering Period, but it is probable that he is better known and pleasantly remembered for the assiduity with which he collected and published the myths and fairy tales with which Maori folk lore abounds.

Cowan married twice; first, Eunise Nicholas, by whom he had two sons and, secondly, Eileen Constance Stowell. He died at Otaki on 6 September 1943.

by Ronald Jones, Journalist and Script Writer, New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, Wellington.

• Dominion, 7 Sep 1943 (Obit)
• Evening Post, 7 Sep 1943 (Obit).

(1885– ).

Geologist.

A new biography of Cotton, Charles Andrew appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Charles Andrew Cotton was born in Dunedin on 24 February 1885 and educated at Otago University and School of Mines. He was Director of the Coromandel School of Mines, 1908–09. He was lecturer in charge of the geology department at Victoria Univ. College from 1909 to 1920, when he was appointed to the newly created chair of geology. He retired in 1953. He has published several books and numerous papers on geomorphology, the subject upon which he has become a world authority and for which he has been honoured by institutions at home and abroad. His more important publications include Geomorphology of New Zealand (1922), Landscape (1941), Geomorphology (1942), Climatic Accidents in Landscape Making (1942), Volcanoes as Landscape Forms (1944), The Earth Beneath (1945), Living on a Planet (1945), and New Zealand Geomorphology (1955).

The New Zealand Council of Organisations for Relief Service Overseas, familiarly called CORSO, coordinates the work of many religious, national, youth, labour, medical, relief, and charitable organisations which are interested in relief of distressed areas throughout the world. It was formed on 16 August 1944 and its first main task was to collaborate with the Government in its UNRRA commitments by sending money, food, clothing, and personnel overseas to distressed areas. During 1945 CORSO was permitted to appeal to the public for funds to enable personnel to be sent overseas, and in 1946 it was authorised to collect relief supplies. Another most important function of CORSO is to inform New Zealanders of the need for relief and the work being done.

On the completion of the work of UNRRA in 1947, the relief work of CORSO continued, and since then the following campaigns have been undertaken: the United Nations appeals for children in 1948 and 1950; world refugee year appeals, 1959 and 1960; and freedom from hunger campaign appeal from 1962 to date. In money, £4,000,000 has been given to the work of CORSO up till December 1964. By the end of 1964, £10,500,000 worth of clothing and footwear had been shipped overseas and it is anticipated that over £1,200,000 worth will be sent in 1965. Many parts of the world, but more particularly Greece, India, Hong Kong, and Korea, have benefited from CORSO's activities.

by John Sidney Gully, M.A., DIP.N.Z.L.S., Assistant Chief Librarian, General Assembly Library, Wellington.

Coronet Peak (5,400 ft) is a prominent peak in north-west Otago named by the explorer-surveyor James McKerrow, probably because of the shape of the rocks comprising the summit. The peak overlooks the Queenstown and lower Shotover districts and is a popular tourist attraction, both for winter sports and for summer excursions. It has become well-known for its excellent ski-ing (May to September) and is accessible by road from Queenstown. Although the peak does not support a permanent snow field, the winter snow lies for an unusually long period on the southern slopes. This is because the low angle which the snow field presents to the winter sun keeps melting to a minimum. In addition, the partly slumped condition of the mountainside gives rise to a hillocky diversified slope, which introduces variety into the ski-ing. Public facilities on the ski field include five club lodges, car parks, four large ski tows, and “The Chateau”, a tourist facility with cafeteria controlled by the Mount Cook and Southern Lakes Tourist Co. The nearest town offering tourist accommodation and facilities is Queenstown on Lake Wakatipu.

by Bryce Leslie Wood, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Dunedin.

Coroners are judicial officers appointed by the Governor-General under the Coroners Act 1951, the code governing the appointment, powers, and duties of coroners in New Zealand. Any fit person may be a coroner, but the practice is to appoint solicitors, where they are available. Apart from Magistrates, who are ex officio coroners, there were 90 coroners in 1963.

The function of a coroner in New Zealand is to inquire into the manner of death where a person has died a violent and unnatural death, or into a sudden death of which the cause is unknown, and in certain other cases. The coroner carries out this function by holding an inquest, but he may dispense with an inquest if he is satisfied by inquiries or a post-mortem that death is due to natural causes. An inquest normally requires a body, but if the body cannot be viewed – for instance, after a drowning – the Attorney-General may direct an inquest.

Inquests, which are open to the public save in exceptional circumstances, are held to determine the fact that a person has died, the identity of the deceased person, and when, where, and how the death occurred. Inquests are unsuitable proceedings for determining questions of liability, and coroners' verdicts are expressed so as to avoid imputing blame to anyone. In 1858 coroners were given jurisdiction, not possessed by coroners in England, to hold inquests into fires. The later availability of alternative procedures made this once convenient power unnecessary and it was dropped in 1951. Formerly coroners sat with a jury – originally of at least 12, but reduced to six in 1885 with provision for a majority verdict of four. Coroners' juries became optional in 1908, except where a Justice of the Peace acted as coroner, and were abolished in 1951.

For centuries in England the coronial inquest played an essential part in the investigation of crime. A finding of murder or manslaughter against anyone by a coroner's jury had the effect of an indictment, and this rule originally applied in New Zealand also. The creation of an efficient police force made this function unnecessary, and the defects of inquest procedure made it unjust. The Criminal Code Act 1893 provided that no one should be tried on a coroner's inquisition. Nowadays, indeed, an inquest must be adjourned if criminal proceedings may be taken as a result of the death.

by Bruce James Cameron, B.A., LL.M., Legal Adviser, Department of Justice, Wellington.

In the post-war period high prices, the introduction of aerial topdressing, the use of molybdenum superphosphate, and the assistance of the Marginal Lands Board have permitted an increase in the region's carrying capacity. Thus the sheep and ewe numbers have shown a high rate of increase, 66.83 per cent and 85.84 per cent respectively. But whilst the labour force engaged in manufacturing has increased by 27.77 per cent, a little above the national average, the increase in the total labour force has been negligible (3.44 per cent). Surprisingly, during the last decade the rural population has increased at a faster rate than the urban population. Part of the increase must be attributed to the non-farming population associated with the smaller villages and the tourist activity, but the remainder of the increase has been concerned with the areas strictly devoted to farming. As a whole the growth of the regional population has been very slow (7.69 per cent, 1951–61). Of the three main towns Thames' growth, 16.78 per cent, has not been very great, Paeroa's rate of growth, 11.73, is below that of the rural population, and Waihi has experienced a decline of 18.6 per cent. The region, it would seem, is still in the process of readjustment after the inflation of its urban structure during the period of its greatest expansion.

by Samuel Harvey Franklin, B.COM.GEOG., M.A.(BIRMINGHAM), Senior Lecturer, Geography Department, Victoria University of Wellington.

• New Zealand Geographer, Vol. 10, April 1954, “The Thames District”, Farrell, B. H.
• Ib., Vol. 5, April 1949, “The Coromandel Peninsula and the Thames Valley”, McCaskill, M.
• Ib,
• Vol. 17, April 1961, “Coromandel: a Study in Economic Stagnation,” Owen, E. E.