MAJOR MAIR'S PARTY REACH TE, ARIKI.

Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 24, 15 June 1886, Page 3

MAJOR MAIR'S PARTY REACH TE, ARIKI.

~THE SETTLEMENT BURIED TWENTY ; FEET DEEP. NO SIGN OF LIFE. MOUHA PAH SUPPOSED TO HAVE SLIPPED INTO TilE LAKE. EoTonuA , Th is Da y . Al)ont 5 tliis morning a slight earthquake < wafc'folt ut Ohincmutu, and a sharper shock at quarter to 7.' The springs aro veryacliro. Ono, tho Cooking Pot, on tho point, haw broken out into tin active littlo geyser, throwing a column four feet high. Anew spring Ims broken out on tho roud loading tj tho now township. A slight rain foil during the night, and tho sky in now very ovorciint. Mont of tho men of Huientific proclivities hero soe.m to think that uUhough tho mud will commonoo to settlo with tho rain, tho oonscquoncos will not bo more sorious than rondcring tho roads imnasssablo for tho v/inter. The mud will find its levol in the valley, and thoi-e is plenty of room for a mo in the lakes, with a good fall for tho overflow. That there is good reason, howorer, for tho precautions baing tukon by Dr. Hector is shown by the Bottling of 11 hugo slip of dry earth deposit at Botomahana, which is reported by Mr. Turner, who vinitod tho Jake by way of tho track from Wairoa, yesterday. Mr. Pond's party estimate tho fargebt of tho now volOinio hills botween Botomahana and Okaro at 600 feet high, and tho crater at about 3X) feet across. This makos it about tho hoight of Mount Eden, at Auckland. Stones aro thrown from it to tho height of a hundred foot. Tho interior of the orator is composed of lino volcanic earth, but in some places tho (strata shows through. Mr. Tond bjliovea from tho composition of tho dust doposit that wherever it is not deeper than three inchos it will prove beneficial to the 1 md as a good fertilizer. Tho only dclotorioas ingrouient is the sulphur, which tho rain will soon rondor innocuous. All tho settlemonta on the East Coast will thus bouefit by the eruption. Whoro heavy deposits of mud and dust have fallen he thinks vegetation will ultimately rosume its hold aftor the sottlelocnt of the mud and its subjection to the notion of rain; but fertility is no more to bo oxpootod from vast heaps of this subutauco than from any brick fertilizing- composition when unmixod with curth. There is a very bittor feeling here about the dilalorinoss of tho Government in Bonding help to To Ariki settlement. It is asked what would be thought of the country which ullowod a hundred of entombed miners to bo imprisonod for four days without an ofl'ort to rescue thorn ? Thoro woro enough volunteers to go in tho boat across Tarawcra last Friday, and yet haggling over tho paltry exponso of .£l2 kept theso willing hands powerloss. Tho natives show an utter callousness to tho fato of their friends, and have been taught to loan upon tho Government for everything ; but that only aggravates rather than modifioH tho inaction of tho authorities. ■Throo coach loads of passongors left for Tauranga to-day. Eighty are reported to be coming up, but if the weathor breaks it U useless for anyono to attempt to reach Eotomahana. Dr. Hector and Mr. Spencor, photographer, loft- this morning for .Knitoriria, whero arrangements aro being made for the canoe to cross Lake Botokakahi, giving anothor outlet to Wairoa. Two policemen aro also despatched thoro. Sergeant Cahill, who was ono of the boating party under Major Mair, which crossed to Botomahana yesterday, camo into Eotorua at midnight. He reports that tho boat reached thd site of Te Ariki, and tho party found the settlement buried to a depth of 20 feet. There is no trace of life or any habitation. No human aid could havo availed them anything. Moura, tho nativo sottlemont on the point of Tamwera. whero it bends towards To Ariki, is boliovod to havo slipped bodily into tho lake. If help could ever havo been of uso to tho natives there, it is too lato now. Tho boat party found tho creek that flowed from Botomahana into LakeTarawera completely stopped up. Botomahana itself was, as previously roported, nothing but a mass of mud L'uj'Hors and fumarolpH, and no trace could D 9 seen of tho uiagnificonfc To Tarata (White Terrace), the great queen of Botomahana, whoßo beauty will live in the memory of thoso wfrobavesoenitforover. Unless some further disaster occurs from the slipping of tho mud , or an outbreak of increased volcanic energy, this probably closes the record of tho great eruption, and anything further will bo minor and incidental. Nine natives camo into Wairoa from Matata destitute, and wore received by the boating party. Sergeant Cahill, who camo in last night, reports great land slips near Takitapu. Ho had great difficulty getting through. Dr. Hector is surprised at the extent of the eruption. Scientists here have been amusing themselves calculating the weight of volcanic earth and mud thrown out. Their estimates vary from eight million to eight hundred million tons. Mrs. Hazard has so far recovered that she leaves for Cambridge on Thursday.