OLD ROTORUA

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 290, 2 August 1932, Page 6

OLD ROTORUA

BACK TO THE 'S1XT1ES 5 MR. ALFRED WARBRiCK IN REMINISCENT MOOD. ROTARY CLUB ADDRESS. "From the birth of Rotorua to the present day," was the text of an adaress with which Mr. A. Warbriek, late chiei' Government guide, e-nfcer-tained members of the Rotorua Rotary Cxub for twenty minutes at the club's luncheon yesterday. The time was too short for Mr. Warbriek to do full justice to such a comprehensive subject, but quite long enough to whet his listeners' appetite for more.. Mr. Warbriek said that his memories of Rotorua went back to the sixties, a time when the place was very small indeed. Ohinemutu contained most of the population, and Maoris outnumbered the white European raee by twenty to one. Rotorua proper was a wilderness of ti-tree, road conditions were primitive, and aecommodation scarce. The path to Whakarewarewa was just a rough track, and the- Puarenga Stream at Whakarewarewa had no bridge, but was crossed by means of stepping stones. There were few Maoris at Whakarewarewa, as most of the population was about six miies out towards Wairoa. It was not until after the Tarawera eruption that the natives removed the pa to the present site. The eoming of the railway accelerated the progress of the town a great deal, but undoubtedly the Tarawera eruption threw it back again many years. People were frightened to come to Rotorua owing to the widelyheld helief that the town would be the next to go. Mr. W'arbrick fecalled that the old Rotorua racecourse- took i'n the area that is now the Grand Hotel, and that the grandstand was on the site where the Presbyterian church stands to-day. A feature of Rotorua life in the early days was the influx of visitors of a class which is rare to-day. This class represented the nobility of both England and Continental countries. Lords, Grand Dukes, and Earls usec to arrive at the rate of two or three a month. They were an open-handea class who spent freely. Five guineat a day for a guiding fee was not considered out of the way, and tipt ranged from a single sovereign to a handful according to the mood of the aonor. One of Mr. Warbrick's earliest recoliections was the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh, who had with hirr. Lord Charles Beresford. One notable part of their visit was an inspection of Mokoia Island where they were taken over the ground of the historic raid by Hongi, which was then vory fresh in the native mind. Thc Maoris graphically described to the Duke how the warriors stood 011 the shore of the lake facing the oncoming canoes, and ready to give battle to the invaders. They were dismayed when spurts of flame flashed from the canoes and numbers of the defenders fell dead. This was their first ex^ perience of gunfire and one that wil live long in the annals of the race. Mr. Warbriek ako touched on the pe-culiar faculty which enabled him to foreteil when Waimungu geysei was going to play. Lord Ranfurly who brought Captain Scott and Lieut. Shackleton with him to Rotorua fox.ow.ng the great explorerh firsu trip to the Southern Antarctic. put this faculty to a severe test. Tle got Mr. Warbriek to foreteil a time when the geyser was to play. Fortunately the geyser did not play the guide false, but went up with a wonderful display right to the very minute. much to the amazement of the

distinguished spectators who congratulated Mr. Warbriek on his prophecy. Mr. Warbriek also touched interestingly on the- question of thermal activity in the district, a matter to which he had devoted considerable study. He gave it as his considered opinion that when the lakes were high the springs were active. With a south wind, the activity diminished and with the north wind the springs ificreased. This wind had the effeet of increasing the lake level inshore, thu. forcmg the water back into the springs and retarding the explosions. Thus Lake Rotorua controlled the Rotorua geysers, and Lake Rotomahana controlled Waimungu. Mr. Warbriek expressed himself as being firmly of the opinion that the Government should throw a dam across Ohau channel, raise- the level of Lake Rotorua, and thus stimulate the surrounding thermal activity. At the conclusion of the addresMr. W. Evans, on behalf of the gathering, expressed thanks to the speake-rs.