Great Panic at Rotorua. SUPPOSED LOSS OF LIFE.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 156, 12 June 1886, Page 1

Great Panic at Rotorua. SUPPOSED LOSS OF LIFE.

[Through the courtesy of W. S. Furby , the officer in charge of m the Electric i Telegraph, we are indebted for the following information, as supplied by M4> Dansey, the telegraphist at Rotorua.] |

Rotorita, 8 a.m. .'We ,have all. passed a 'fearful night here. The earth has been in a continual quake' since midnigtft., , :At 2.10 a.m.^there was, a heavy quake, then a fearful roar, which made everyone'run out of their,houses,"and a grand, yet terrible, §igHt lor * those so near as w^a.w^re presented itself. :>, Mount-, Tarawera, close- -to • Rotomahaiia,( became suddenly*' an, active volcano; belching 6,ut v r fire /and lava, io agje^heigHt: , ,;;'.',,, „The^eruption, 'appears"to have extended^itself 1 to*> several 'places south- 1' fw4rds. Ai •» >\^' -^ '■' •!i°- • ;."''"' v 'A^aenii^^jqfi ashe t s jcam.e, pounng f ,down yoB here at-:4;^.m;, n accompariied^ by, a suffocating!stfl'elli%dm'r th'e-16-wef

This immense black, cloud, -which extended in line from Taheke to Paeroa mountain, was one continual mass of electricity all night, and is still the same. Between the roar of 'the' thunder, the roaring of; the 3or 4 different craters and the stench, and the continued quaking of the earth, several # families left their homes in their night dresses, with whatever they could seize in the hurry, and made for Tauranga. Others who are lucky got horses and left for" Oxford. Judging from the quantity of ashes and dust here I fear serious results to the^ people at Wairoa and all the natives round Tarawera Lake. The fearful aspect of affairs, it is just as bad now (8 a.m.) as they were all night. I have sent all my family away to Oxford this morning by special bu~gy, and if matters don't improve during the day I shall follow them for a day or two. Hundreds of new boiling springs have broken out all rouud here. Some in the middle of the roads. • The telegram received by the Northern Steamship Company was from Mr W. M. Commons, and stated pauic . increasing. Everybody anxious to leave Tauranga. Steamer would be rushed and urged on every side to wire for steamers. A svbsequent telegram from the same gentleman intimated that the Glenelg had left Tauranga for Auckland at midnight, two hours before the outbreak.