PINK TERRACES

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 3370, 26 September 1931, Page 2

PINK TERRACES

CAN THEY BE RESTORED? ALFRED WARBRICK THINKS SO. The belief that if Lake Rotomahana were drained there would be every possibility of uncovering the wonderful Pink and White Terraces, which were destroyed in the Tarawera eruption, in 1886, is still held by Mr. Alfred Warbrick, the famous guide of the Government round trip in the thermal regions. Mr. Warbrick'a knowledge of the district is unsurpassed. He has been a guide for ovei 41 years, and the eruption itself is still to him a vivid memory. "If we had the Terraces to-day," he stated, in an interview, "New Zealand would be the richest country in the world. Many people hold the view that the Terraces were destroyed, but they have not been able to prove their conten'ion, and I honestly think that it would repay the Government to explore the possibilities of draining Lake Rotomahana so that the site of the Terrace may be exposed once again. This would be a simple matter. The surface of the adjoining lake, Lake Tarawera, is 146 feet below that of Rotomahana, and if a channel were cut between the two lakes the Terraces or what remained of them would be exposed. 1 do not think myself that the Terraces were destroyed. Naturally, they would be covered by deposits from the eruption, but they were made of granite-like silica, and is it extremely probable that they were preserved. Even if they could not be restored to their former state, they would still constitute the greatest wonder in the Dominion. They were perhaps the greatest phenomenon ever created by Nature, and should only a portion of them be uncovered they would have an interest that some of the buried cities like Pompeii in Europe have. "I have endeavoured for years to get the Government interested in the matter," said Mr. Warbrick, "and at different times the Press has helped me in the matter, but so far no definite steps have been taken. The late Sir Thomas Mackenzie was interested in the proposition when he was Prime Minister, and admitted that if even a corner of the Terraces were restored it would bring thousands of people to the site, but the negotiations did not get further than that."

Strange Phenomenon.

Mr. Warbrick has not confined his simply to guiding, but for years has been a systematic observer of all the constant changes which have taken place in the thermal region. No one knew the great Waimangu geyser better than he did, and visitors used to marvel at the accuracy with which he used to prophesy its activities. On one occasion he rowed a small dinghy across the seething waters in its crater. Early this year he discovered a small geyser on the Warbrick Terrace near Lake Rotomahana, and reports that it is still playing every eight or nine minutes. Perhaps the most remarkable phenomenon in the district recently, however, has been the receding of Lake Rotomahana. Since the Tarawera eruption the lake has risen steadily, but two weeks before the Hawke's Bay earthquake it started to go down and in the last four or five months it has fallen seven feet. "I keep a record of the movements of the lake," he said, "and I have been asked why it is going down. There are two reasons why it could go down. The first is that the bottom way obviously disturbed by the earthquake, and the second is that the evaporation has become keener. I

attribute the fall to a disturbance in the bed of the lake. The inflow and outflow are both subterranean, and it is likely that some disturbance, probably connected with the earthquake, has caused the outflow to exceed the inflow."

Mr. Warbrick contended that not enough use was made of the mineral waters in the district over which he has control. The iodine and iron pools, from which millions of gallons were running to waste, had most marvellous curative and recuperative properties, and it would take comparatively little effort to turn these into profitable account. There was no doubt that the mineral springs in the district were worth a considerable amount of money. The famous guide said that there had been unusual activity in- the thermal region lately, and Pohotu and Whakarewarewa, had been playing frequently. Rotorua, like everything else, was feeling the effects of the depression, and there had been a falling off in the number of tourists.