ERUPTION OF MOUNT TARAWERA.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XII, Issue 1734, 15 June 1886, Page 2

E RUPTION OF MOUNT TARAWERA.

JPULLER PARTICULARS.^

(UNITED; PRESS ASSOCIATION.) v .', Taukanga, Mofday. , t The reports, of the damage; . caused^by e fh.fe-eruption are exaggerat^, bntthe T© Wairqa shore of the Tarawera Lake has been destroyed, The hotels have been levelled,- and the rnihs are still soioalder* in*. The additional wonders of Tarawera, Ruawabia, and okuro r active volcanoes, will attract crowds of tourists to the already far-famed Wonderland of New Zealand. Te Wairoa and the" .country round" "are eoyeredlwith ten feet of volcanic mud and stones. Ohinemutu is safe, but fresh springs, have broken out. The geysers are very active.* At Tenga, 9 mile from Ohinemutu, the residents are safe, though the ground is three feet deep m volcanic mud, From 8 a.m. till 11 a.m. on Thursday the district was en> velbped m total darkness. The volcanic matter was. thick,, but there was no panic, as reported. The people were cool, and were only anxious for the Lake district. The loss 6t life is probably confined to the inhabitants of the settlements on the shore of Tarawera Lake, who are chiefly Native's. 7 j ■ • BoToBUAi Monday. A party 6t Natives, m search of their relatives supposed to be m • three buried pahs, returned from JRotoiti after un unsuccessful day's 'operations. An import* ant expedition has started to determine the fate of the beautiful Pink aad White \ Terraces. A Native named. Makaka and 1 his wife ariived from Morea on tlie night of the eruption, and so escaped. They had brought a daughter who was burned to be treated by the doctor at Rotorua. The Natives say. the settlement must be completely destroyed, with 20 Maoris and their chief. He thinks the settlement of Te Afiki, with. 40 men and the head chief, Rangi Hena, are destroyed, with an Englishman named Mr Brown, baker, from the Waikato. The Natives were the remnant of . a once powerful tribe. Only one of their number escaped, through being near Botorua. He laments the destruction of his people. The'shocka have now sub*, '/sitled, and the ashes have ceased blowing 'about. Efforts are being made . to pepe.- ' trate the country, as little is known yet as to the coaotry injured or tho actual settlements destroyed, tbe tracks being obliterated for miles. . ,\ , : ,-?.