TERRIFIC VOLCANIC OUTBURST IN THE LAKE DISTRICT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7661, 11 June 1886, Page 5

TERRIFIC VOLCANIC OUTBURST IN THE LAKE DISTRICT.

ROTORUA Iff COMMOTION. MOUNT TARAWERA BECOMES j ACTIVE. SHOWERS OF ASHES. SETTLERS FLEEING FOR THEIR | LIVES. GREAT LOSS OF LIFE. All other subjects pale before the great disaster which has fallen on the Auckland Lake district. At an early hour on Thurslay morning a noise, as of the firing of cannon, was heard by many Auokland residents. From the continuousness of the firing, the loudness of the reports, and the apparent occasional sound resembling salvoes of artillery, many people both here and at Onehunga were under the impression that a man-of-war, probably the Russian Vestnik had run ashore on the Manukau bar, and that these were her signals of distress. Vivid flashes, as from the firing of guns, were also witnessed both at Onehunga, and also from the cupola of the Herald Office, which served to almost confirm the impression that there had been a marine disaster. At about 8.30 a.m., however, it began to be circulated about town that a catastrophe, far surpassing in horror even the most terrible of shipwrecks, had taken place ; that a great volcanic upheaval had occurred in the Lake district, the whole oountry between Tauranga and Taupo being involved in the danger, and that a loss of life, all the more terrible in that its extent was unknown, had occurred, and that all the surviving inhabitants were fleeing for Tauranga. There was at once a rush for the Herald publishing office, and throughout the day the office and the street in its vicinity were crowded with people anxiously awaiting the receipt of the successive telegrams which arrived from the seat of the disaster. Never even during the sharpest crises of the war was a deeper interest manifested. Tens of thousands of copies of extras, issued on receipt of each fresh telegram from Rotorua, were eagerly contested for by an excited crowd of numbers of individuals.

The Lake district, the scene of this appalling catastrophe, is situated in the southern portion of the Auckland provincial district, extending into the Wellington and Hawke's Bay districts respectively. It may roughly be taken to cover an area of 120 miles north and south by 20 miles east and west, over the whole of which all the varied characteristics of volcanic systems, volcanic cones, boiling springs, fumaroles, and solfataras are to be found. The great mountains, Ruapehu and Tongariro, are too well known to need description. There are also the lesser masses of Kakaramea, Maungaongaonga, Tauhara, all at one time in active eruption, and, stretching from Lake Tarawera to the Waikato. At Orakei-korako is the igneous Paer.a range—a mass of hot crumbling soil rising in places to a height of 4000 feet, and capped at its highest point by the Te Kopiha geyser, one of the grandest in the district, but, from the nature of the soil, very difficult of access. Streams of hot water, one, of the dimensions of a small river, the Otumakokori, flow from the Faeroa range ; the land at its foot, and many of the slopes of the hills, are soft boiling mud, and it has long been foreseen that in time, probably in the near future, the disintegration at the foot of the ranges would lead to their collapse, when the result of this gigantic mass being thrown in a state of boiling pulp over the face of the adjacent country would be disastrous in the extreme. From the tone of the telegrams received up to the time of going to prens, it seems probable that this is what has occurred, and not that Tarawera, as stated, has broken out in eruption. The effect of a collapse of Faeroa would be to hurl a flood of liquid mud by way of the Eatoreka Valley, and between the hills of Tunninui and Idoerangi on to the village of Wairoa, and would thus account for the ten feet of mud which, we are informed, covers the village, the destruction of the hotels, and the fate of the Haszard and Mcßae families.

The following short sketoh of the springs in the district will show how the whole face of the country is permeated with volcanic energy, all of which would be thrown into violent activity by the central eruption. It may be remembered also by our readers that for the first time even in tradition the extinot peak of Ruapehu has awakened into activity within the last few weeks, ■team having been seen to issue voluminously from its crater. Commencing some four miles north of Eotorua, on the Maketu Road, is the extremely valuable Waretata system, which may be considered the northernmost of the series, though there are actually hot springs within a mile of Maketu. Along the borders of Rotoiti, and between this lake and Rotorua. we find Tikitere, Ruabine, and Manupirua, a collection of springs on the shores of Rotoehu, etc. Proceeding south, are Ohinemuta and its offshoots, Owhata, Kouta etc.; further south again, are the Arikikapakapa and Whakarewarewa pools and geysers, the latter extending to the range up which the Wairoa Road winds. The next commence in the Te Ariki bay of Lake Tarawera, extending over the Rotomahana district, and including Te Tarata, Otukupuarangi, Te Hapeotoroa, etc. South of this again the vast collection of boiling springs around Maungaongaonga and Kakaramea, and extending thence to Ohaki on the Waikato, on the one hand, Mid on the other to Orakei-korako on the same rivea, while along the whole coarse of the Waikato to some miles west . of Orakei-korako is one all but unbroken system of hot springs and geysers—even as far as twenty miles from the latter on the Waipapa stream, near the Waimahana Pa. South of Orakei-korako again is the great Waikari system, including Wairakci, Kar&piti, Tapuaeharuru, etc., and the Tauhara system, including Rotokawa. Further south again, below Taupo, the springs are equally numerous.

It would appear that Mr. J. Macintyre, of Onehunga, was the first to arrive at the correct solution of the morning's disturbance. At about seven a.m. he informed one of our reporters that at about half-past two a.m. he was awakened by the noise as of guns firing, and getting out of bed, he dressed and went on to the verandah of his house, and then was able to hear the sounds more distinctly. After listening awhile, he arrived at the conclusion that the noise did not proceed from guns, but was from some fearful voloanio eruption, and he says that he could distinctly see the refection of the flashes of fire and lightning, and they appeared to him as if some one was waving a lighted torch to and fro. He believed that

1 1111 1 'IP when the news would coma is, it would be found that an eruption had occurred Borne where in the direotion of Opotiki. How true Mr. Macintyre's predictions were are now only too well knows* Everyone spoken to at Onehunga about fthe matter firmly believed that the noise wmo! the gunj off some vessel in distress, the idea of a thunderstorm or volcanic disturbance being ridiculed. From the Manukan Heads we learned that nothing was Been of th« lights, and nothing heard of the report*. One gentleman residing at Newton counted 63 distinct reports, and there were many other* which he was unable to count, as they came in what might be termed » volley. During the early part of the forenoon the Mayor received a message from the Mayor of Taa« ranga to send a steamer to Taurangn for the conveyance of the refugees, and in doe course Mi Waddel chartered the s.b. Wellington, which left at two o'clock for Tauranga. Amongst those on board were Mr. A. J. Hamrd, brother of Mr. Haszard, at Te Wairoa, schoolmaster ; Mrs, Robertson, who goes on account of her family bsing left at Ohinemutu, Rotor; Mr. Alfred Yates, native interpreter, who has relatives at Rotorua. Mr. H. Parker (of H.M. Co* toms) is also a passenger. Captain J, McKenzie is in charge of the steamer. It is expected that she will arrive there about three o'clock this morning (Friday). On reaching Tanranga she will be placed at the disposal of the Mayor of Tauranga. ♦ TEE FIRST NEWS IN AUCKLAND.

The first news was, through the courtesy of Mr. Furby, the officer in charge of the telegraph department, issued by us in an extra, and consisted of the following message, sent from Rotorua, by Mr. Dansey, the telegraphist there, who manfully and bravely " stuck to his instrument" in the face of the most dreadful danger :— THE TELEGRAPHIST'S ACCOUNT. Rotorua, 8 a.m. We have all passed a fearful night here. The earth has been in a continual quake since midnight. At 2.10 a.m. there was a heavy quake, then a fearful roar, which made everyone run out of their houses, and a grand, yet terrible, sight for those so near as we were, presented itself. Mount Tarawera, olose to Rotomahana, suddenly became active, the volcano belching out fire and lava to a great height. The eruption appears to have extended itself to several places southwards. A dense mass of ashes came pouring down here at four o'clock a.m., accompanied by a suffocating smell from lower regions. The immense black cloud, which extended in line from Taheke to Pseroa Mountain, was one continual mass of electricity all night, and is still the same, between the roar of the thunder, the roaring of the three or four craters, and the stenoh, and the continual quaking of the earth, made every one alarmed. Several families left their homes in their nightdresses, with whatever they could seize in the hurry, and made for Tauranga. Othere more lucky, got horses, and left for Oxford. Judging from the quantity of ashes and dust here, I fear serious results to people at Wairoa and all the natives round Tarawera Lake. The fearful aspeots of affairs is jvufc as bad now (8 a.m.) as they were all' night. I have sent all my family aivay to Oxford this morning by special buggy, and if matters don't improve during the day I shall follow them. For a day or two hundreds of new boiling springs have broken out all round here, some in the middle of roads.