LOST TERRACES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 27 August 1923, Page 6

LOST TERRACES.

IN NEW ZEALAND

NATURE'S AMENDS

j When, on the occasion of the eruption 'of Mount Tarawera, the famous and picturesque pink and white terraces of New Zealand'disappeared many years : ago—the bottom of the neighbouring ! lake Rotomahana was blown out at the ] same time—one of the show places of the world was dramatically blotted out. : But Nature is trying- to make amends for this loss. With the aid of man, it is attempting to supply the equivalent ;of the historic terraces. That these artificial methods, however,, have not so far been very successful is interpreted by the Maoris as a judgment on man for interfering with Nature. Professor It. Speight, Professor of Geology,and Curator of the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, who attended the Pan-Pacific Science Congress, said to a Sydney interviewer that there are people who believe that the famous terraces which were swept out of sight , with the eruption of Mount Tarawera ; are buried underneath ■■■-, the material \ thrawn out of the neighbouring lake I when Tarawera manifested a spirit of . hostility towards the beauties of Nature ! round it, and broke forth into violent : emission. Professor Speight has no definite theory on the point; he is more ; concerned with the attempts of Nature \; in other places to supplant these lost i wonders.

At one or two places," he remarks, j "terrace building is unquestionably i proceeding on a small scale, and with j any revival of thermal activity, of 1 which there are some slight indications ! at present, terraces such as those which ; have now disappeared may be created | on a smaller scale." i At Wairakei, and also at Waiotapu, terrace building is being carried out in a small way. The Maoris do not quite approve of man's intrusion into i this little building project of Nature, j although, ' according to Professor j Speight, the phenomenon that has so far presented itself has encouraged the hope that, with man's assistance,, it may be posible to bring forth "quite respectable" terraces, reproducing in a modified form the characteristics and j the beauty of the pink and white terj races. The method adopted at one j pfcw;e was to place an obstruction in the ) way of the water, draining the heated • water .from the springs over the slopes, ' and thus creating artificial pools. I Another phenomenon, geologically, ' has also manifested itself in New Zealand. Its famous geysers are, on | the whole, declining in activity, accord- ■ ing to Professor Speight. One of the ! most famous of the geysers of- New ; Zealand, which used to toss a column ' of water to a height of 2,000 ft, has now stopped flowing for some years. Other geysers are not so active as they used ,to he.

I "Volcanic action," says Professm* Speight. "must reach..a maximum, and then decline. In all probability that is what has happened, or is happening., in New Zealand to-day."