TARAWERA RECALLED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 38, 14 February 1931, Page 9

TARAWERA RECALLED.

"A WEIRD REGION."

FINE VOLUME REPRINTED

LAKES, GEY"SERS AND TERRACES,

At 6Ueh. a time as this ■world-wide interest is created in the physical conformation of New Zealand, a subject which, has been of interest to scientists for inariy years.- The subject is one of overwhelming vastness and possibly the forces that'cause an. earthquake are beyond the finite mind of man, but there are the lessons of his-tory, and the deductions which have been derived from them. ■- • s The eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886 was one of the most vivid re-, minders of the igneous energies of the earth; and the story of tie calamity conies with particular force, bearing, as it does, some resemblance to the upheaval at Napier and Hastings. The story of the tragic happenings of 1886 are told in a booklet entitled "A Weird Region," describing the environs of Rotorua, written by the late Dr.' Thomson W. Leysj The first publication was made immediately after the Tarawera disaster, and many thousands of copies were sold. Since then the booklet has been widely inquired after, and a 1931 issue has just left the press. It is finely illustrated with a coloured frontispiece of the White Terrace at Rotomahana, and many other half-tone plates depicting the locality. The booklet has just been brought up to date, and has been reprinted. It is now obtainable at the offices of the "Auckland Star." The suddenness and unexpected character of this extraordinary outburst has found a parallel only this year in the Hawke's area, but, only too tragically, the toll of death, injury and human distress is infinitely greater. The Tarawera eruption is most vividly and accurately described by the late Dr. Leys, and- the maps and pictures incorporated in the volume add valuable historical evidence.