THE WHITE ISLAND. DISASTER.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2261, 22 September 1914, Page 7

THE WHITE ISLAND. DISASTER.

LATEST DETAILS OF THE TRAGEDY. ROLL OF THE MISSING. ISLAND ALTERED BEYOND RECOGNITION. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) . Auokland, September 21. There is grave reason for supposing that ten lives hare been lost in the thermal eruption on White Island, and it is praotically certain that damage ■ amounting to about £20,000 has been done to tho works and plant of the New Zealand Sulphur Company on the island.- • ' , Island Unrecognisable. Search parties which visited the island yesterday state that from appearances ..it would seem that the large cliff; on the northerly side of the island slipped forward towards the sulphur lake. The debris covered the large sulphur blowhole vent which formerly existed at the base of the cliff, and this evidently caused a terrific eruption. Another large'blowhole, about 40 yards across, has appeared four chains nearer to the lake,' and is emitting' fierce.sulphurous Uames. The lake no longer" exists. Appearances suggest that the eruption took place in the evening. It seems not improbable that the eruption blew tho employees and their quarters over Troup Head,' which is 150 feet high, and into the sea on the south-eastern side of the island, as the side of that cliff is whitened by erupted material. _ Portions of-the 'manager's, house and tho employees' whares, also part of the manager's wife stretcher,' were found by the search party floating in the sea. A pair of heavy truck wheels and a large boulder several tons' in weight 'were found four chains away from where'they originally were. . .-.'■■,■ It is estimated that quite forty acres* have been affected by the upheaval The police party and other willing helpers • cleared away several tons of debris from the site where the men's quarters, stood, but the material was so hot and steaming that tho work had to be stopped. The police will continue the search for, bodies ( if the sea admits of them venturing out. At present, however, thera is a big rol? on. Rofl o? the Missing Men. N > The names of the men who it is feared 3mve been- killed are-as follow:— .' A. J. C. M'Kim, .manager. R. Walker. - Stephen H. Youni;. J. Byron. J. W. Donovan, R. Lamb'. ' R. Lamb. i -EL Williams. . . V A. Anderson. , R. Waring. . r —Kelly. ' 'AH the. employees other : than the manager wero quarrymen or labourers. The whole of the first seven, men named were from Auckland, and it is believed that all- but Byron were unmarried.- With regard to Anderson, Waring, and Kelly, there is some doubt whether they.were on the island, but it is thought probable that they were. .Ji of> the Night. Mr. ' W. H. managing : director of the Sulphur Company, is inclined to fear that the/disaster happened, at night; in which Jcase the em-, ployees would'have been taken uh-, awares. Had, it occurred in the day-, time men would not have been work : ing in'the dangerous part of the island, but in absolnWv nuiescent ground on the flat. Discussing the probable cause of the upheaval, JMr. Willoughby said the blowhole was situated at the base of the' north-eastern' cliff. This had .always shown thermal activity, whjch of late had been "rattier more pronounced than usual, tnousfnnot to an alarming degree.. In his opinion the activity from this blowhole passed beneath the cliff, which was 1000 feet high, and caused ' a huge landslide. There were other blowholes on the island, from somo of •which small flames had been issuing at times. No flames on a large scahrhad ever been seen, however. The camp .■was situated about 300 or 400 yards from the lake, or about half a mile from the north-eastern ojiff,. which has been thrown down. The isjand*was not considered dangerous. The men who worked there were always eager to go back. Apparently there had been three active, craters on the island at one time —one at Troup Head, long extinct, another on the opposite hill, and a third in the centre of the island on tho north-wes-toni side of the sulphur lake. From the latter there were constant emissions of steam and smoke; hence tho smoke seen by-the residents of -Wbqk'atane was not unusual. A Fortunate Escape. A fortunate escape is that which has been experienced by Dr. Milsom, of Auckland,' Mr. W. H. Willoughby (managing director of the Sulphur Company), and Mr. J. L. Strevens (the company's chemist).' These gentlemen' veiß due to have left -Auckland for Wh'its Island on September 8, and presumably would have been oh the island when the eruption took place had their original plans been carried out. The indisposition of a member of tho party was tho sola reason of the (fortunate postponement of the trip.- '■ An interesting story was told this morning in the course of an interview by Mr.' Strevens, tho chemist of tho Whito Island Sulphur Company. "There has certainly been a great deal of volcanic activity on the island lately," said Mr. Strevens. "Even so, it was not considered to be by any means an unsafe place on which to reside. Maori tradition has credited the place with a' similar degree of activity for a thousand years, and it .was presumed to be safe for another thousand. Geologically, however, years may bo counted in-mo-ments, and apparently the unexpected has happened. Thermal activity at White Island has for a long time past been quite six times as great aB that of Whakarewarewa, and those residing oh the island have received frequent Knocks and other evidences of volcanic activity." An Eerie Thrill. Two months ago Mr. ■■ Strevens, in company with the manager, Mr. M'Kim, .and an expert, Mr. Mieville, sent out by English and Canadian investors, had a- sensational experience. The area of White Island is only about 1000 acres, but its crater rises to a height of 1000 feet, and it took the exploring party eight hours to negotiate its.circumfer-; ence, starting at 8 o'clock in tho morning. They noticed that there was a continual haze over ono port of the country they intended traversing. This they thought they could pierce, but when they were well into it they found that the air was thick with dust and ash. So dense did it become, in fact, that at times they could scarcely see #ach other, and tho country they were negotiating was of the roughest possiblo description. For hours they were in a fairly perilous position -njd seriously considered the expediency of attempting to retrace their steps. It was fortunate for them that they did not attempt to do so, for shortly after discussing this suggested change of plan, were three loud explosions, like tho firing of cannon, and the country immediately behind -them was the scene of a considerable upheaval. Ultimately the party

) returned to camp, smothered in 'dust ' and ash, which was an inch thick about parts of their clothing. Not Unhealthy, At times, Mr. Strevens states, great volumes of smoko, dust, and ash bolched forth from tho crater to a height of. 6000 feet or 7000 feet. The crater itself is a thousand feet abovo sea level, and tho smoke is often blown up five times 'as high as the crater. Occasionally dust and ash descend thickly upon tho ,■ area known as "the flat," where the quarrymen had their quarters, and it was,not an infrequent thing for it to come down four inches thick. Despite these little experiences, Mr. Strevens says, White Island was not at all an unhealthy placo to live upon. The men always felt well, and possessed good appetites,' and tho place where their huts was located was considered to bo the safest on the'island. SEARCH PARTY RETURNS. NO HOPE OF SURVIVORS. Tauranga, September 21. The search party has returned to Opotiki from White Island.' It found the buildings covered with 20ft. of mud and boulders. The old crater is filled up, and two new craters have burst open. There is no' possiblo hope of any survivors. \ ~',,,, Colonel Ward explains that the new craters will be fumaroles similar to the old ones blocked up. AT THE SCENE OF THE DISASTER. THEORIES AS TO THE,' CAUSE. Tauranga, September 21. When the pilot Mokonioko reached Whito Island on Tuesday it was dark and the wind was rising, so he'returned and went'back on Saturday. . The island was then almost unrecognisable. The 'wharf has been, swept .away by. a huge mud wave which extended into tho sea as far as the eye could see. The bottom of the huge cliff at the top of the blow-hole had filled up the lake,, which had completely disappeared and was replaced by an-immense hill. This morning a reporter of the "Bay of Plenty Times" ■ interviewed Mr. G. Arnold Ward, who is a civil engineer who has always taken the keenest interest in seismic and volcanic phenomena. In reply to a question as to the probable cause of the disaster, Mr. '.Ward said that .in the absence of .details it was only possiblo to give a conjecture. Whito Island was the most consistently- active of- Now Zealand's volcanoes, though in a quiet way. The island was the summit of a volcano submerged for more than "half its height. It may be compared to a hollow tooth, being merely a shell of hollow cliffs of from 200 to 800 feet, surrounding an oblong crater. The floor of the crater'stands a, fail'height aboyo sea level, and is generally accessible ■through two breaks in the crater wall at the south-east end. ■ Tho crater is, roughly, half a mile long by a quarter of a mile wide, with a small lake and .several ,■ fumaroles. The water of tho lake is very strongly impregnated with hpdrochloric acid, of a very high" 1 temperature, and has been. considerably drained away by the company working the sulphur deposits, In many places, from top to bottom, the ' crater walls are dotted with Steam jets, strongly impregnated with acid gases. It therefore follows that rocks and debris composing the wails would bo in an unstable condition owing to decomposition, by acid- vapour, -and tails or landslides are liable to occur from time to time. ..'■-•• The actual time of any such fall is probably often determined by the occurrence of ono of the minor tremors to which theffjjsj.and is frequently subject. ; Considerable eruptions of steam occur at ; intervals, generally about this'time of. ~ the year. Mr.' Ward has measured sev- , eral with instruments. In regard-to . the height of the steam . column, he j found the same frequently from six to j nine thousand feet. The highest re- i corded yet was on May 27 of the cur- , rent year. ' _ , "From the evidence available," said j Mr. Ward, "I attribute the present dis- , aster to a fall of cliffs debris due to ] natural causes mentioned above. The , so-called black smoke recorded as hav- j -Aug been' seen from the mainland was j simply'an immense volume of fine dust ( which would naturally follow a big- fall. , It would be carried to a great height by the steam and hot air always rising , ■from the crater. There has certainly j been no eruption of magnitude or earth , tremors would'have been felt through- j out the Bay of Plenty. At least I have , not seen any evidence of abnormal ac- ' tivity for some weeks past, nor felt ( any tremor. _ "Whether the sulphur-mining opera-' , tions or tho partial draining of the lake | had anything to do with the disaster it is impossible to say without further 1 information-, but as all hands appear to , have been buried it seems likoiy that j the disaster i occurred without any pre- i monitory signs at a time when the men were at a meal or were gathered in / their quarters for some similar purpose J and did not occur in working hours. ! "In regard to the reported outbreak j of a hot spring on. the mainland, while it is not impossible, I am inclined at presentto regard it as simply a coincidence if it is true." ■

Tha Hon. W.'Fraser, Minister of Mines, has instructed an officer of the Department to go to the scene of the disaster and to report details to him.'