PINK AND WHITE TERRACES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 321, 22 February 1910, Page 5

PINK AND WHITE TERRACES

WERE THEY DESTROYED?

THE POSSIBILITY CTF IriEIR RECOVERY. By Telegraph.—Press,' Association. Rotorua, February 21

A project that Iras been mooted more than once before is being seriously discussed again, namely, the possibility of recovering the famous terraces at Rotomahana. Guide \wirbrick stoutly maintains they were never destroyed, but simply buried, basing his belief on the fact that he had searched the whole of the ground in the neighbourhood of the lake and had never found a fragment of the terrace formation.

Since the eruption in June, ISS6, Lake Rotoma-hana has filled up to nearly twenty times its original size, and is now more than 100 feet above its' former level. There is no outlet and it is still rising. x\nother 25 feet will cause it to overflow into the old channel, which would soon be scoured out. The idea is to hasten, this process by making a cut to give it a start. The topmost layer of terraces was originally 70 or SO feet above the water, and is therefore now submerged 20 or 30 feet. Above this is a deposit of mud, but this, it is believed, could be shovelled or washed into the lake with no great labor. If the terraces still exist, the lowering of the water, it is hoped, will bring them to light again. On the other hand, one authority at least believes that if "the terraces were not destroyed in the eruption, the steam confined below would by this time have converted the silieous formation into pulp and destroyed the beautiful colors of these famous beauty spots. Others contend that the formation is too hard to be impaired by the steam.