The Rotorua calamity.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XII, Issue 1733, 14 June 1886, Page 2

The Rotorua calamity.

The following descriptive account by Mr fcl. C. Field, of Wanganui, of localities affected by the ; rocent calamitous subterranean upheaval m Rotor u a, will be read with interest :— Of the three Maori settlements destroyed, one — Te Ariki-— was at the base of the mountain, just at the extrotnity of the southern area of Tarawera L\ke, and was the place at which tourists landed to walk across to Rotbiriahnna land tiie Terraces. Moero was on the right or western vide of the same arm, and was where tourists generally ■topped to buy fruit and crawfish ; and Tapahora was at the base of the mountain, just, where the Tarawera River flows out of the* eastern arm of the lake. Wairoa, where, tourists. take a boat to cross the -lake, is situated at the extremity of its western arm. Thirty years aeo it was the model mission station of the colony, arid till now was a lonely spot. A rich flat, m a sheltered valley, was divided iut'o snug littlo homesUada, occupied by Maoris and Europeans, with an old mill beside the stream. , Iv the midst were two hotels, Me ßae'B and Humphries', and a temperance maetiug house ; and on the north side, on a couple 06 terraces overlooking the village, stood the Government schobland the old mission station. .The ivy-oovered church stood ■ amid a thicket of sweet briar, surrounded by acacias and other imported trees: j and the mission, house was enclosed on ' the back and Bides by a mixture of English, Australian, and native trees, with .a wooded hill m its rear, and the ground m fronts sloping down m undulations about 600 ft to the Tarawera.Lake. • The ■upper part of tho slope was planted with flowers and shrubs, and bebw these was a large orchard full of fruit treep of all kindfc m full bearing. . All of this must taow .be destifoyed-^buried under hot mud Vnd> sttfnes. . Not only have the Maoris, no; tradition of an eruption thereabouts, but the last one must have occurred at a Very distant date, as indicated by the depth of the surface mould, and the size of the trees, many of which must be several hundred years old. I have no doubt that the Terrace's are goce. If not broken to pieces, they mußt be buried under a great .-depth of stones and mud. At the base of Ruawahia, near^tbe south end of- Tarawera, it 'an -evident ancieDt terrace, the outlines of which Beemed too rounded to be accounted for by the mere increase of mould and vegetation. I haye.no doubt that it is covered by the debris of a for- : mer eruption. .The Rotokakahi (commonly called the green lakp) about 1£ miles north-west of \yairea, whioh nearly boiled [two years ago, was evidently formerly the cauldron of a vast terrace extending from its western extremity, towards Rotomahana. The for--111 ation ef this terrace no doubt ceased when, the water m Rotpkakahi cooled, and afterwards fouud itself a lower outlet by way of the Wairoa stream.. All the high hills about ' Rotorua and Tarawera, and then to Tanpo, are old volcauoes, arid the volcanic action ii to great that an outbreak may o«cur anywhere at any moment. '. .