CHURCH BELL RECOVERED

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 85, 27 April 1937, Page 13

CHURCH BELL RECOVERED

Buried in Tarawera Eruption METHOD OF DISCOVERY The story of the recovery of _ the bell of the old church at Te Wairoa, buried in the Tarawera eruption on the morning of June 10, 1886, was told to Napier Rotarians yesterday by the Bishop of Aotearoa, the Rt. Rev. F. A. Bennett. The bell now surmounts a cairn on the original site of the church. Bishop Bennett, who was born and partly educated in the village of Te Wairoa, was in the habit of attending the church, and part of his duties was to ring the bell- In the eruption the church was completely wrecked and buried. Accompanied by a water diviner, the youthful bell-ringer, now grown to manhood, recently revisited the spot and cleared the area where it was thought the church stood. As the diviner, who claimed to be able to detect the presence of metal as well as water, j paced over the gjround, the divining twig dipped each time ever on© spot. After pegging the spot, the Bishop returned to Hawke' s Bay, leaving othero to discover if the divining had brought the desired results. The diggers, after excavating to some depth, found not the bell but two large wooden hinges, formerly in positioli on the door of the church. Bebeath them was the wire used in ringing' the bell, and when this had been traced a few feet, the bell, which had heen buried nearly balf a Century, waS found.