NOTES BY THE WAY.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XIV, Issue 2005, 29 June 1886, Page 2

NOTES BY THE WAY.

The eruptive topics of the past few weeks have so entirely absorbed the attention of your readers, as to, convince the writer of the futility of attempting to awaken any interest in " Notes by the "Way." The. subject of volcanoes in general and Tarawera in particular, after furnishing sensational columns for the press, offering unlimited scope for speculative conversation, and causing a small flutter of excitment in all volcanic localities, appears to have worn itself out, and will soon take its place amongst the historical records or the past. The Auckland Herald of 22th devotes upwards of a whole column to the difficult task of endeavouring to prove, that of all in the world our provincial capital is the most secure, to live in, evidently in the city exists 'painful uneasiness, and the six and twenty picturesque cones on the Auckland Isthmus are looked upon with suspicion. The column of heavy reading however will not prevent Vulcan with his attendant Cyclopes from planting his anvil beneath the slopes of mount Eden, nor. will it deter : the Sombre Pluto from again kindling the exhausted furnace of Eangitoto, should either of these classical gentlemen deem it expedient to visit the shores of the Hauraki G-ulf, but will rather have the effect of giving expression to fears which otherwise would probably have remained unspoken. The chances of Auckland being the scene of volcanic activity, are just about as great as thatof any other region whose volcanic forces have been for ages dormant, viz., possible but highly improbable. The eruptive intelligence in the papers was at first decidedly sensational, and the various, incidents as they accurred by no means lost in attractiveness by being sent along the wires; an occurrence, insignificant at any other time, by a few graphic touches of an imaginative pen, assumed the most startling importance, and appearing under a terse heading became a fearful and wonderful fact. A 1&v»g stone weighing several hundredweights was pointed out, at a distance of many miles from Tarawera, as been ejected by the volcanic outburst. The fact of a heavy fragment of rock being buried in the ground by the tremendous velocity it would of necessity have attained ere reaching its final resting place, being evidently ignored. An artist engaged on an Auckland journal reported as having had a

miraculous escape after performing the simple feat of gazing into a belching volcano, by the ground on which he stood a few minutes previously suddenly subsiding, was both amused and astonished at being made the hero of an exploit 'cwhich. had not occurred.^ whilst the nuntber of those who had been nearSai^ the scene of activity, and consequently obtained the latest and most' authentic infoiv mation wag positively marvellous. Another wide field for speculation has been opened up by the eruption, in the deposit of volcanic dust which was poured over the district. Opinions are numerous and varied both' as regards the specific gravity of the substance and its composition. There appears to be a difficulty in determining its weight because of the great variety of form it assumed ere reaching terra firtna, In some places coarse sand, almost gravel, ffll, whilst in others a dust, fine as the finest flour, found its way to the ground. Besides this there was ,- the' almost impossibility df collecting the coating supported by an area sufficiently large to furnish a reliable datum. The danger lying in taking up either too much or too little of what fell' The fertility of the deposit has not as yet been finally settled though a hurried analysis of Professors Thomas and Brown gave o. 3 per cwt of soluble matter as the amount of benefit it -would be likely to bring to the Roil on which it tests. This however wiil be better known when a larger quantity and a greater variety of samples have been examined. The day on which these notes will appear will bring. the Taurauga portion of the Sanfranciseo mail to this district, and with it may be expected certain explanations on the matter of our Eailway. On the 13th March last an extraordinary geueral meeting of shareholders in the Tauranga and Hot Lakes Bailvvay company was held and the Company voluntarily wound up, the original shareholders agreeing to make all their interest over to an English Company, with the understanding that a few' weeks at furthest would see the scheme floated. Days, weeks, months, have flown since, and still is the Tauranga Rotorua Eailway unsettled. Erom time to time various explanations were attempted, but latterly even these have been given up, and now it is thought Tuesdays mail may throw some light on the mysteries of, this very important subject. ' Bprougt matters if not sluraberiagf have of late lost much of their former interest. TheUoan question has not recently been mooted, and so the victoria wharf trouble rests. In fact the principal^ and only matters of interest are the street contracts and how to carry them out, all being by no means yet '■settled with the contractor whose work seems to have given so much dissatisfaction. The "Mutual" has broken out in a fresh place and developed into a Parliamentary Union with its many complications and intricate machinery; Being new, this ventvre should for a time at least succeed, and during the course of its career may perhaps be the means of bringing to the "front much latent talent which the peop' of Tauranga may find useful, in enabling them to |choose on some future occasion a suitable representative for this electorate.