The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 1886. MOUNT TARAWERA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2319, 12 June 1886, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 1886. MOUNT TARAWERA.

o Ie has been stated that the remains or. twenty generations of Maeris have been placed on the summit of Mount Tttrawera, and five hundred, perhaps even a thousand years may have elapsed sinoe the volcano last spoke. Of all natural phenomena measurable by human intelligence nothing can be mora aweinspiring than a Jonely summit, which century after century maintains a profound quietude till an implicit faith grew up that its silence is eternal. Then suddenly on a cold winter's night without a note of warning, the repose of ft thousand years is broken, and lire and flames b?lch forth spreading alarm and consternation over ten thousand miles of territory, and a hundred thousand ' people. Was a solitary human being a spectator of the scene when the;. Tarawera mountain last gave forth its j thunder 1 Or what will be the nature of.the catastrophe a thousand years hence, when the mountain may again shake the country II By that time ninny millions of people will bo dwelling in this island, and fair populous cities may surround the lava district. Events like the recent eruption are land-marks in the history of the world at almost immeasurable intervals, and forcibly remind us of the Biblical narrative, which affirms that" A. thousand years are but as yesterday." New Zealand is periodically visited with some plague or another, which threatens to overrun the covin- : try. to the consternation of the farmers,.. The. very friiitfulriess : of the soil ren- ? ders it liable toibe the cause of farmers' riiin.;■■ At '<m, time -{locks.'■' spread and increased to such an .extent ■- as to thrfateri; to. ■ extingiiish all; pthet ", plants:; Then ith»'Bapfcek ;■ thistle>;grew i

:aiid jViictifit'd, and many feared to tho 'of'.'all elao. . Then came soine jnofß. ot! the Egyptian plagues in the; shape of locusts, rabbits, scab in aheep^:-cotlliu moth,' and other ]uxuries, uutil.people.wore surfeited with thorn, Ww,. according,to the Chrißtohurch :paperßj.. we are.'.threatened with the terrible Galitornian thistle, .. Mr ■Murphy, the Secretary of ? M Ranter-' .bury Agricultural and Pastoral Association, has reeeLyed'an imjiuiturit communication as to the. presence in 'Qaijterbnry of the pcfst known as the "Californian thistle," When in Tasmania last season lip witnessed the destruction of farm lands hy,this weed and seeing .some notices, ina Sonthern paper reporting the presence: of 'l' 6 thistle in Otago, he caused; enquiries as to. its presence in Canterbury, with the following result from it large farmer in the Ashbiirton district; .-"I send you a specimen plant of what 1 suppose to be the mutih-dreaded Califofiiian thistle. The octopus tentacle appearance of ill roots is very suggestive, From my experience as to the vitality and• ■absolutely monopolising power of this thistle, I. have the greatest possible apprehension of what a scourge it may become to the New Zealand farmer. The rabbit scourge is nothing to it, for. the effect of it will be to reduce the value of lftftd now worth twenty pounds to twenty shillings. The Legislature, should be induced to deal with this matter at once, during the present session. The only way in which it could be effectively met would be to give power to local bodies to enforce the absolute destruction of the plant wherever it is found. With this view, I would suggest that a resolution should be passed by the A. and P. Association, requesting the Government to take the necessary action. 1 have only a few patches, and I had them dug over with the spade this past summer, and, although it was a summer that few plants oould live in after the soil had been stirred about them and their leaves removed, these thistles were only increased tenfold. lam now covering them with rotten straw, in such a manner as would smother any other known plant, I suspect that the seed has been introduced with the American red clover or Timothy seed."