FAMOUS TERRACES

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 183, 18 July 1936, Page 4

FAMOUS TERRACES

“No Hope of Their Being Seen Again”

REDUCED TO ASHES “The terraces were absolutely destroyed, and do not think that there will oe any result from the proposed draining ot the lake. In my opinion I do not think there is the slightest hope oi their cvei being seen again. They were just blown and reduced to ashes,” said the Bishop of Aotearoa, the Rt Rev. F.. A. Benne'tt, at the weekly luncheon meeting oi the Hastings Rotary Club yesterday when he was making reference to the Pink and White Terraces in the course of a talk on the iarawera eruption. Bishop Iw nnett said that the White Terraces covered an area of about eight acres. “They were a glorious sight and cue ot the finest the world fias ever pivduced There was nothing more gloriou*, and they were reputed to be one of the seven wonders of tbe world,” ha said

The White Terraces were rough, and though the Maoris could walk barefooted on them, pakehas could not. On the other hand the Pink Terraces which covered at out five acres and were so beautiful and unique in colour, being sata cn pink, were like polished marble.

Bishop Bennett mentioned that at a boy he, in coinpuoj with others, used to swim in the pools immediately above each terrace- Curiously enough, ha said, the tempciatur© of the pools differed from those at the bottom, being cold, and those at tbe top being hot. One strange feature of the Terraces was that when a south wind blew the top of the Terraces would dry up completely ot water, but as soon as the wind changed from the south the water would gush up like geysers and begin to flow in a cascade down the Terrace*. Referring to the sediment tin) was deposited on the Pink Terraces, i.ishop Bennett said that frequently visitor* scratched their names on the Terraces and in a very short time it was impossible to erace the writing, the sediment forming a coating over it. After a time the sediment would deepen and, of course, blot out tho writing.