THE TAUPOLAND=SLIDE

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 773, 23 March 1910, Page 8

THE TAUPOLAND=SLIDE

:— t . HILL DESCENDS EN BLOC. ! LAKE-SIDE HAMLET IN PERIL. THE SCENE DESCRIBED. In yesterday's Dominion appeared the news of a land-slide at Waihi, a small Native village on the shores of Lake Taupo, about a mile to the westward of Tokaanu. The message stated that the hillside behind the village began slipping away, and had forced its way to the lake, carrying away the wharves and houses in its track. The Natives, , who were greatly alarmed (one Wi Tamiawhana was killed), were hurrying' away from the village. A gentleman who is interested in the locality, and knows every foot of it, says that, these land-slides are a very old trouble at Waihi. The affected spot was not immediately at the back of the township, but was about half a mile away, in a valley or gorge, between a cliff face—the continuation of the ridge behind the village—and a hill called'Taumanuka, throngh which flows a stream called the Waimatai. From time, to time masses of .earth peel off the cliff, and. block the stream, and a lake is formed by its waters banking up against the slip. It is

the ■ breaking-away of this great dam which the., drainage, carrying, as. it does,-a huge, stream, of. mud ; ;d6wn to the lake, : and heihg' helped, perhaps,' , by another' land-slide which would swell the earth,.'torrent. Something similar to this occurred in May, or March, 1846, but such were the circumstances that it amounted to a disaster, and is- an historical. event often; referred', to in the Native Land Courts. In the early part of 1846,' the chief TeHeu Heu lived; in a-strongly-fortified stockaded pa called Te.Bapa, at; that point on the : shores of-, Taupo, where ■ the Waimatai stream reaches the waters of the lake. There he and 65 of his peoplo were overwhelmed by a huge land-slide - . Those who perished on that occasion were mostly members of his own family. Three, of Te Heu Heu's family escaped.^One was the father ,of the present ■Tβ Heu Heu; another was the mother of Wi Tamaiwhana (killed in Monday's slip), and another a sister. Cause: Thermal Activity. The cause of the land-slides .was a matter of opinion. Our informant believes that they are. caused' by ■ the effect of thermal activity, ' which the country in that vicinity is subject to. There are hot springs in the hills above Tauinamika Hill, and evidence of thermal pulverisation exists all about the valley and along the snores of the lake. Monday's slide was probably caused either by a minor eruption or by someless apparent form of thermal action. The whole of the locality ia really the ■lower paTt of the; crater of Mount Kakaramea, an extinct volcano, 4300 feet-in height, •'which ills in thn background to the scene under review.

The village of Waihi (waterfall) has a population of about 130 Natives. The only white resident is a Roman Catholic priest of the Marist Order, who built a small church there'in 1887 or 1888. The present Te Heu Heu resides at Tokaanu. He is chief, of the NgatiTuruniakina hapu at Waihi, and also of the , parent tribe, Ngati-Tuwharetoa. Rather Alarming. * Another message, giving a few more (ietails of the landslide was received yesterday. These were .of a rather grave character, and seemed to indicate that the mishap had been, more serious than was at first supposed. The situation at Waihi must have been alarming in view of the fact that.the residents had all deserted the place, and sought sanctuary at Pukawa, a Maori settlement a mile farther away from Tokaanu along tho lake-side than Waihi. The report that there is 30ft. of mud on the road between Waihi and Tokaanu (a distance of three miles) may be taken to mean the "fall" has descended on one part of the road —probably that part where tho valley of the Waiinatai opens out near tho lake-shore. An Eye-witness. Among those who have seen the devastation .wrought by: the landslide is Mr. Kensington, TJnder-Secretary for Lands, who returned to Wellington yesterday after a brief visit to. the Taupo district. Interviewed on the subject, Mr.* Kensington said the steamer on which he and.a. number of others journeyed across_ Lake.Taupo on Monday was taken quite close to the scene of the disaster. The whole of the hill, which extended from one mile to one and a half miles; had' come down, doubtless as the result of thermal action, for tho whole of that locality was "steaming." Hβ also remarked that tho "slide" appeared to.bo quite as .extensivo as that which caused the loss -of so many lives • a great many years ago. , The Waihi Native- settlemont.had.escaped, so far residential part was concerned.

The Old-time Waihi. At one ■ time Waihi boasted, a flaxmill, but it is many years sinco tho scream of tho scutcher has been heard across tho lake. The two buildings prominent oh tho right of the picture were the mill-hands' quarters m tho days of Waihi's industrial strength. Potatoes, kumeras, and corn arc the necessaries of life cultivated in patches in this dreary little lake-side hamlot. Life runs very placidly and contontedly in "Waihi.