THE GREAT ERUPTION.

Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 25, 16 June 1886, Page 2

THE GREAT ERUPTION.

WHAT IT HAS DONE. SUMMARY OP EVENTS. RoTORUji, Thib Day. The great volcanic eruption is, i fesHovo, finished us a newspaper sensation, and oVon tho greediost appetito must bo satisfied with the tragic records, and have no wish for any renewal of the phenomena which have opeiateA so disastrously over many square miles of country. Now tliat tho statements of the' stifvivors and other details so dear to tho penny-a-linor have been got rid of (and by tho tardy arrival of oxtro telegraph operators jnsi when the Pi?sss mon are leaving, wo are no longer confronted with the mandate, "wires blocked," Mot mot by tho roproaehful oyes of two industrious public offldora who" havo had no sloop for five days), it may bo possiblo to give an intelligent and! connected aoaonnt of what has already happenod. From telograms received here it is evident that many people who are acquainted with tho topography of the district h'avo got mixed rogarding what has occurred and even at Ohiuemutu ono may got a variety of decisions. The first telegrams announcing that Ohinomutu was eithor totally destroyed or damaged, and that even Tauranga was endangerod, have novor boon got' complotoly out of the minds of a great many people. It mußt be stated, to got a starting point for our resume, that Ohinerautu is wholly unimpaired ; not one chimney is shaken down, nor a pane of glass broken. Thtit this ctfuld bo truo of any place situated orily ethmti 15 miles, as the crow flies, from tho centre of tho eruption, may boom strange to tho inexperienced, yet if consideration is given to what was known of the action of volcanoes, it is not at all extraordinary. There are more than 20- extinct points of voloiinic eruption on tho Auckland isthmus. Yet fho larger proportion of the soil is puro clay, without the semblance of scoria, ash, or volcanic dust. A spectator might have stood with perfect safety within r. inilo of Mount Eden and watched it blazo, and in its quieter momenta, as adventurous tourists do at tho famous Hawaiian volcano, and as tourists will do hero should Tarawera keop up itß fires, he might ascend tho hill and look into and oven descend tho yawning gulf. The area covered by this eruption is unusually largo, and the impulse necessary to send the stones so far as thoy havo gone must have been tremendous ; but if-anyono takos tho troublo to make tho calculation he will see that tho forco necessary! to propel a stone weighing half a pound 10 miloß is inconceivable aa being disclosed in any volcanic eruption. Tho dust clouds borno on tho wind may do serious injury ovor a wido area, and tho r.iud oloud, -when its weight is allowed for, has passed much further than would havo bueii conceived. Such an eruption as this happening in any thickly populated district would have been terribly fatal, as we see by its effect on tho scattered native villages. But as it is, apart from tho sad loss of lifo among the Maoris and tho temporory destruction of the feed for cattle on the East Coast farms and tho irreparable loss of tho Terraces, tho injury to the existing settlements in those districts is not so great as might have been expected from suoh a catastrophe, and will Boonbogotovor. Whoreithasinjuredßotorua moßt is by shaking confidence in the stability of tho ground, because of the suspicion that what has happened at Rotomahana may occur at Kotorna which is in almost an equal fermont. This is truo in one sense, but on tho other hand the eruption of Tarawera is, bo far as wo know, the only event of the kind,for thousands of years, and Ohinomutu may share its fato in thousands more. The chances aro not worth calculating, except to bring clearly to the mind of tho reader that, wide as tho area is that has been affected by this eruption, its origin and power or mischief is strictly local and confined to tho area embraced in tho channol of country extending from Tarawera mountain to Lake Okaro, a distance of about 10 miles, and say about 10 miles round this centre Towards Kaiteriria tho deposit doos not extend to far as this, but in tho direction of To Teko it is said to have been destructive at a distanco of 30 miles. Thore is, howovor, great exaggeration in many of the reports about these deposits, and it may bo safely doubted if they will prove permanently deleterious to vegetation at a point beyond ten miles, and the area may probably bo set down at very much loss. To enable persons who have no knowledge of the district to understand tho situation, a few words of explanation may be necessary. Rotorna or Ohinemutu, the headquarters of tonristß, and tho placo whoro the Government sanitarium has been established, is situated on Lake Botorua, and abounds with hot springs and small goysors, with some traces of terrace formation at Whakarowarewa, a native village ton miles Irom Botorua. Lake Tarawera lies nine miles in a S.E. direction, the road to it passing Tikitapn Lake and Lake Eotokakahi. The village of Wairoa stood on a small arm of Tarawera, and was tho nearest point of embarkation to cross Tarawera for the purpose of reaching Rotomahana, a. small lako south of it, and the site of the famous Terraces. Tho south shoro of Tferawera was skirted ngarly six miles, and then an arm called Te Ariki, bending southwards two miles, brought the tourists to a small creek about a mile and a half long, carrying off tho flow from Rotomahana. To Terata, the White Terrace, was situated at the Tarawera end of Rotomahana', and perhaps about four miles from Tarawera Mountain, an eminence 1964 feet high to the eastward. The shores of Rotomahana wero honeycombed everywhere with steam jets or fumarolos, and exhibited in the highest degree of intensity all those peculiar forms of volcanic action which have made tho Lake district famous. The buried native settlement of Te Ariki stood on the arm of Tarawera bearing that name ; it was here that the lake guides lived who fleeced Europeans visiting the Terraces. On the morning of 10th June, about 2 o'clock, the aide of Tarawera Mountain next Rotomahana Lake, was blown out amid a fierce storm of tho elements,includingthunder,lightningand earthquakes. On another peak of the samo mountain another enormous crater was opened, sending forth showers of ash in the direction of Te Teko. What caused these unusual disturbances in mountains which hod never before shown signs of volcanio activity is a matter of speculation ; but undermining and subsidence through geyser action around Rotomahana appear a very simple and probable explanation. This violent eruption probably shattered the steam pipes of Rotomahana geysers, and letting the waters of the lake down in heavy streams, caused a terrific steam expansion, and tho vomiting of an immense cloud of mud, which was caught in the terrifio cyclone produced by these disturbances, and carried across the south shore of Tarawera, smothering Wairoa native village in its journey, and spreading over the east shore of Botorua as far as Talickc on Lake Roto-iti. It has been suggested that mud is of too great a specific gravity to be wind-borne so far, and that the mud-shower must be accounted for merely* by tho wetting of the earth.; with steam, but this 'theory takes' no account of the hurricane provailing at tho time, evidence of which is given in uprooted trees and the dashing of tho mud with such force against buildings, trees, and posts that it stripped off leaves and was plastered in solid layers which gave rise to the evidently erroneous impression that the great lumps had travelled for miles. The theory also offers no explanation of tho extensive deposits of dry earth and ash to the bouthward of Rotomahana, large portions of which must have been driven out by the steam and bprne across the volumes of steam at all times hanging over the lake. Attendant upon these eruptions was the formation of a large number of fumaroles or steam volcanoes in Rotomahana, and four in tho fern valley leading to Lake Okaro, whore the disturbance stops. Seven fumaroles were also opened upon different parts of Tarawera Mountain. The most startling feature of tho eruption is the immense body of earthy matter which it has deposited, and the" evenness with which it is spread. This totals 'many millions of tons. The country covered is as smooth as a. table, every irregularity being rounded off to aperfectly oven surface. If we'adopt the theory of subsidence in Tarawera Mountain aa the cause of the eruption — and there is evidence of this at Rojtorua^ •where the site.of the anoienj; village is now* submerged in the lake — the Occurrence will, and should, lT;bink, prevent the aggregation of any largo population' "upon land subject to such treacherous, insidious, andirretistable 'agencies. ' At the' same timo it is probable that one year hence people who are now uneasy with these reflections; will have

reconciled their flHHds to take tho nek, byreflecting that it is fist worth while calcu- 5 lating upon ovonts th-it happen only onco in* a geological period. Tho iramediato damago then consist* in the loss of sovon Europeansundj97 nativeß, the destruction of five untivo villages, two hotels, two houHOc, and tho mission hall, and tho ovorepreading of tho country described with dibri'. Tho futuro danger amos from tho slipping down of the thick mud deposits under rain action. This, . however, is probably ovor-estiintited, as tho • settlement will be very gradual. Th<) greatest dangerisatTikitapUjWherethorciHnoontflow from tho Lake, but come flooding is all that ■ wo havo to approhond. Tho "Wairoa-road will be destroyed for the winter, and the village being ruined, and tho entrance toRotomahana from Lako Tarawora cnt off by mud doposits 30 foot thick, that road may never bo worth repairing : but another road must be opoaed quickly roundtho othor sido of Tiltitapu and Rotokakahi Lakes, and tho tourists visiting Rotomahana will no longor have to submit to the inconvoniouoo nnd extortion of boatmen, while tho gulden mny have Lad stfofr tear instilled into thoir minds by the calamity tfe»t has befallen thoir prodecossors, tliat Botorua may yot see good upringing out of tho vwlauutr which has bo nearly involved it in ru-ifl. < SHAfiP EARTHQUAKES AT OHINEMDTtf. Kotorda, TnieDjtr. Two sharp earthqunko nhoekß woro felt a* Ohin'emutn shortly .after" midnight. Th«> aoftoinl, succeeding tho first tft an interval of half m> hour, was vory severe. Th<y undulating ir.Wion proceeded from the diroction of Tarawcnt; mi causod window* to shake and water-juga to rattle in tho basins. Many poople, at tho Boqtfflcl shake, got up* and "dressed and went into tllo wtroots, not knowing what theso_ disturbances might portend. In "Wellington such shscktiwould not cause much uneasiness, but hero,after tho reoent exporionoo, nnd with the known honey-combed nature of tho ground, thoro ia a natural feeling of norvousnoH', Heavy volumes of steam hung over Tarawera, but thoro was no sign of any othor eruption. After looking round and comparing notes tho people wont to bod and slept in peace. Dr. Hector's examination of Rotomuhana showod a groat orack, or oarth fissure, extending from Wahanga Mountain, on tllo far nide of Tarawora, through that mountain and nearly up to Lako Okaro, a distance of ten miles. Ho is of opinion that if any disturbances should open this up to Okaro, lotting in waters of thai lake, there would bo another -blow up, but : he also believes that thero are vents enough opened in tho recent eruption to provide safoty-'valves for tho whole North Island. He tfstHitated that tho craters now working throw rtp Btonos to a height ot 800 footTho appoardftoe of Luke Eotomaliana is jiuU as described katmer. It is pretty cortaiu that no largo body <>f water remains, though some pools are visible tlvroagh the kteam. Tho old swamp is converted into a sand flat. The old chief who dng himself out giivo a lot of trqnblo to the police in getting- him from WairoOy Ho ref iisod to leavo, and was tied in a ohair and bo carried 1 avray, kiolinff viciously. UNEASINESS AT OHINEMUTD-. Rotoeua, This DaT. Dr. Hoctor> Captain Mair, and party loftfor Tivupo this morning en route for Wellington via Napior/ Heavy rain is now falling. Tho hills nwr Ohinemutu look wliito, apparontly from a f*ll of snow. It is. intensely cold hero. Another slight oarthquako shook was folt at Ohinonxutu at 11 o'clook to-day. Many pooplo foo) uncomfortable, and talk of leaving. The rain isoxpootcd to causo heavy mud Blips on tho* road to Wairoa. Mrs. Hazard left for Cambridgo to-day in an opon buggy, being; anxious to got away from the place. InspoCtof Bold has conic in from TahekcHo has had parties of mon clearing tho tolegraph wires, which aro splashod with jmid. as far ob Makctu. Ho reports tho road from Tahoko {n'fair condition. Tho only bad places aro at To Ngao, whore thoro is not more than four inohos of mud. Uiul reports aro coming iii from all tho East Coast settlements as far as Opotiki of tho dofrtntction of tho food for cattlo. It is liopod that tho rain will partially clear it. Tho weathor, howover, is oloaring. Tho earthquake wiw fslt at Taheko, and also at Wairoa at midnight, Kuowhtg it was not local to Eotorua, and probably, came from the convulsions around 'JL'arnwera. Taobanqa, This Day, t1.20«-m. Hoavy rain now falling, which ;viU bp tho saving of thousands of shoop and oaftfci mid greatly bonofit tbo district. , • < Eosobva, This Day, 1.12 p.m. Tho old tohungar Who was buried 104honr» is now ablo to walk about the room. ' Tho Maoris still say, " What you dig him out for ; no good." Tho springs at Ollinomutu nro behaving vory orratically. The cookincr spring at the bacK of Harry Butt's houso blew out a great hole tßi» morning, pending up jots six feet high. It i« now perfectly dry. It has never aono this fftflforo.