VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS IN THE NORTH ISLAND.

Kumara Times, Issue 3000, 15 June 1886, Page 3

VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS IN THE NORTH ISLAND.

The following particulars in addition to those already published by us in previous issues on the great volcanic eruption at Tarawera will complete the narrative of events up to the present time:— Mr Brenner, Postmaster at Maketu, a township on the East Coast sixteen miles sooth of Tauranga, reports that the atmospheric disturbances caused darkness, there on Thursday until 10 a.m. Earthquakes lasted from halfpast two a.m. till a quarter-past eight, with very strong lightning and earth currents. The office has not suffered any damage. Heavy thunder and lightning, with sharp earthquake, took place from 3.30 to 11.30 a.m. About 5 a.m. a fine dust fell ; at about 8 o’clock pumice, pearl barley size. TheTeketapu bush has been uprooted, and the two small lakes destroyed.

There is 10ft. of stuff on M‘Rae’s Hotel, and Te Ngae has been covered with three feet of mud.

In all directions fresh eruptions are reported to be taking place.

The latest is that the terraces have all gone, and tweuty-six bodies have been recovered.

The only eruption in the Hot Lake district which caused loss of life is said to have occurred about 120 years ago, when a portion of Ohinemutu Pah called IJruika Was submerged in a part of the lake which was boiling. On that occasion about thirty Natives were scalded to death.

The Maori meaning of Tarawera is “Burning peak.” This morning Dr Ginders reports that the Springs are uninjured. Smoke and steam are rolling along in Madame Rachel’s and the Priest’s baths, in the greatest quantities. The indications are not generally so favorable as on the previous day. Men are hard at work at Wairoa. No more Maoris have been dug out, but four cats and a dog have been exhumed alive, and two pigs. Later. Theisland of Mokoia, in Lake Rotorua, is reported to be softening, and an eruption of steam is taking place; a volcanic eruption is feared. The cutter has taken the Natives away. Galatea, Jone 10. The whole country is still in a state of eruption, and mud continues to belch from Ohinemutu. If the wind goes round to the east it is not known what the consequences will be. To-day the Maoris were burying their dead, and the picture was a sad

one. A tangi is being held. A party of men tried to get to Rotomahana, but found it impossible to proceed, as the debris was up to the horse’s girths. Wellington, June 14. Mr Gray, Secretary for Telegraphs, has received the following from Maketu : “ 7.30 p.m. Gordon, Postmaster, Whakatene has just reported the followingAt 11 a.m., a native who escaped from Euawahia on the Whakatane side of Lake Tarawera, says that from where he was he could see the settlement of Te Ariki, between Rotomahana and Wairoa was destroyed, killing Samuel Brown, and about 40 natives. Another native warned Mi M'Pherson, at Matata, and George Creek, at Whakatane, that Lake Tarawera had risen about 30 or 40 feet, and also that before the late eruption it rose.” Auckland, June 13. An inquest has been held on the body of Bainbridge, tourist, and a verdict returned of accidentally killed by falling lava at the Rotomahana Hotel, occasioned by the eruption of Tarawera. The latest accounts from Rotorua state that Messrs Blyth and Burt have arrived, and report seeing immense volcanic craters belching between the peaks where the first eruption occurred. June 14. Miss Graham has telegraphed to Mr Ballance that she got within a mile of the Pink Terraces, but was unable to see any trace of them. Rotorua, June 14. Stewart’s party could not reach the Rotomahana native settlement, it being shrouded by sulphurous vaponr, and several places close, by were in dangerously violent eruption. The Pink Terrace has subsided,- and its site is apparently a lake. The police hope to reach the Morca settlement by land to-day. Another European, Samuel Brown, is supposed to have perished at Morca. The Rotorua springs have increased in temperature and volume. There are several new springs at Ohioemutu, and Mokoia is crowded with visitors, Tarawera is quiescent,—A. Gindebs,

Napier, June 14. Mr Elliot, the Opotiki lineman, reports that he found the plates of both lightning gnards at that office fused, The wire had also been down in the river, and had been repaired temporarily by Mr Gordon. Mr Sommerville, lineman from Tauranga, reports that he had great trouble travelling, owing to the dust from Rotorua having blinded him and his horse. He found the wire fused at the insulators one mile north of Whakatane. Wanganui, June 14. Cnshen, a surveyor, says he was on the top of Ruapehu three weeks ago, when he saw steam issuing from the crater. A few days later he saw a column of steam fully 200 feet high. The natives said they never knew of anything of the kind before, Ruapehu always being deemed to be extinct. The Wellington correspondent of the Christchurch Press gives the following interesting description of Mount Tarawera and the locality adjacent thereto:—

I may state, for the benefit of Southern readers, that Mount Tarawera fills up the background of the shore of the lake, bearing the same name. It is described as a high sloping terrace, from which spring three peaks, that to the left being a perfect truncated cone, rising to the height of nearly 3000 feet above the sea level, and'named Te Wahanga. The middle cone, Rnawahia is about the same height, and that on the right is Terawera, 300 or 400 ft. lower, and sloping southward. These two latter are reported in active eruption. Rnawahia is used as a resting place for the remains of : the dead, many hundred skeletons being deposited there, as on the Indian “ towers of silence.” The triple-headed mountain overlooks Rotomabana as well as Tarawera Lake. At the foot of Tarawera is a remarkable cone, which is said to have been an active volcano within the limits of Maoii tradition. Wairoa lies ten miles to the sonth of Rotorua, and the aarae distance from Mount Tarawera. Te Hriki is a Maori settlement at the landing place on the shore of Lake Tarawera, where it is joined by the stream that drains Rotomahana. Te Ngae is an old Anglican mission station, about eight miles from Ohinemutu. At one time Ohinemutu peninsula was nearly double the present size, but one night a portion suddenly sank into the lake and many Natives perished. As to the scientific aspect of the case, there are all sorts of discrepant theories. One is, that owing to the exceedingly dry summer the ground has become deeply fissured, permitting the access of water to subterranean fires, thus leading to the violent explosion, but this is of doubtful value. Another theory is that this outbreak is due to the sudden extinction of volcanic energy at Kilauea (Sandwich Islands), reported recently, hut the whole subject of volcanic action is involved in mystery, and at present the particulars available are insufficient to enable any of our savants to theorise conclusively as to the cause.

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