ROTOMAHANA: PAST AND PRESENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7693, 19 July 1886, Page 12

ROTOMAHANA: PAST AND PRESENT.

" Rotomahana : Past and Present," was the subject of a most interesting lecture, delivered by Mr. Josiah Martin on July 1, in St, Matthew's Schoolroom, which attracted a numerous audience, and which was listened to with rapt attention from beginning to end. The Rev. Mr. Tebba, in a few introductory remarks, referred to the additional interest centering in the subject and in the lecturer, from the fact that about two years ago Mr. Martin, in a paper which he read before the Auckland Institute, and which ho repeated in an amplified form, as a lecture, in St. Matthew's schoolroom, had broached a theory on the forcers at wort in the Lake district, and the cataclysm to which they might give rise, an eventuality which had since been realised. The lecturer then proceeded to conduct his audience to the Liotorua district, illustrating each step with beautifully clear photographic views, tnrown on the screen by means of the limelight. Stopping for a time at Ohinemutu and its vicinity, and viewing Maori life amid the hot springs, they were next conducted to Wairoa, along Lake sTaraiv era, past Moura and To Ariki to Rotomahana, Mr. Martin dwelt long and lovingly on Te Tarata, the lost White Terrace, illustrating it from every point of view, and in its minutest details. By his illustrations he showed, ascending from terrace to terrace until the crater was readied, how in the course of ages it had assumed the beautiful shape which, until a few weeks ago, constituted it one of the marvels of the world. Having passed many weeks on and around it, studying it in every varying aspect, by sunlight ana moonlight, in early morning, at noonday, and at eventide, and having made observations and taken views of it when the basins were full, as well as at the comparatively rare intervals when they were empty, Mr. Martin was able to convey vivid details of the deepest interest. He gave the measurements of Te Tarata as follows, viz.: Frontage to the lake 800 feet, and distance from the lake frontage to the crowning basin or crater, also SO;) feet, giving a superficies of silicated terracing of about seven and a-half acres. The circular crater had a diameter of 220 feet, enclosed in a silicated rima six feet in breadth, enclosing a basin, the platform of which was 30 feet below the rim, and generally full to overflowing of azure blue water ; while in the centre wan a funnel, 15 ftct across at its opening, and gradually narrowing down to a broad pip?, which extended down to unfathomable depths. In illustration of the system by which the terraces were formed, the lecturer then showed views of the decayed terraces at Robokanapauapa, behind the White Terrace, and also of Ivoingo, Ngahapu, Whatapahu, Mangamamao, and otuer points of interest, be then passed on to the Pink Terrace, Otuiiapuarangi, and its decayed neighbour, Whakataratara, exhibiting also the new pink terrace, which, rising to the southward, had been gradually extending over the great Terrace. Another series of views exhibited Rotomahana, Tikitapu, and Wairoa, as they now are, and the desolation which has been caused by the recent eruption, the lecturer explaining the causes which had led to the outburst. A view of the eruption as portrayed in the Australian Sketcher was shown as an illustration of the appearance which some person at a distance thought the phenomena ought to have assumed, though without a particle of resemblance to the reality. Groups of natives and portraits of the late Mr. liatzard, to whose memory Mr. Martin paid a well-deserved tribute, and of Sophia, the well known guide, were also exhibited. The lecturer was frequently applauded, and at the end of the lecture a vote of thanks was passed by acclamation to Mr. Martin, and also to the Rev. J. S, Hill, who lent his oxy-hydrogen apparatus, and also assisted exhibiting the views. In the course of bis lecture on Thursday evening, July 1, Mr. Martin gave the actual measurements of the column of steam arising from Tarawera and Rotomahana. Mr, and Mrs. R. Arthur, roused by the outbreak on the morning of the 10th June, saw the column ri3e over Mount Hobson, electric lire playing above its top, and measured it, fixing the altitude by comparison with a tree. Mr. Josiah Martin and Mr. Percy Smith took observations, and found from measurements taken with instruments that the height of tha column was nine miles in altitude. THE WONDERLAND OF NEW ZEALAND. OTHER TERRACES KNOWN TO EXIST. So little has been done to open out one of the largest sections of the Hot Lake district of New Zealand, that some of the most lovely and marvellous portions of it are still unknown to the ordinary tourist. But we are informed, upon the best and most trustworthy authority, that other beautiful terraces exist at no great distance from those recently destroyed. Te Tarata and Otukapuarangi, the lost marvels of Rotomahana, have so generally b'-en spoken of and written about as he Tcrraccs, that we have been prone to look upon them as uniquo of their kind. They were indeed unique, in the sense that they were, far beyond all comparison, the most perfect specimens of silicious sinter terracing the world has ever seen. But they were not the only lovely ones in New Zealand, although they were tha largest. There are others at Maungakakaramea, on the left track leading to Galatea, skirting east of the L'aeroa range, which are very little known to Europeans, as they are quite off the wellknown track of tourists, and near them there are no hotels, or guides, coaches, or accommodation of any kind. They are situate in native territory, and virgin country, but could easily and readily be opened up by roads and tracks, at small cost. The whole of this part of the district is of a most marvellous character—hot spiings, geysers, mud volcanoes abound ; and it is to be hoped that in future tourists will extend their researches along this road to Orakeikorako, Hitherto the sole object of the hotelkeepers at Ohinemutu has been to retain tourists, as nearly as possible, within sound of their own dinner bella—or, at least, not more than a day's distance from Ohinemutu. The destruction of the Rotomahana Terraces will, however, undoubtedly tend to make the district better known, in that it will send tourists further afield in search of the other countless wonders and beauties hitherto neglected. But the best now of our Terrace system, and the one, or rather the series, most worthy of comparison with the two that are lost is to bo found at Orakeikorako. A great part of the banks of the Waikato is here silicated into terraces, pink, white, and numerous other colours. The secret of this colouring, and of its source, was long a mystery to scientific visitors. It is, however, now known to be caused by the growth of conferva;, which give the extraordinary variety of colouring to the Orakeikorako river terraces. This, as a matter of course, does not apply to the pink colouring entering into the very substance of the material, as in the late famous Pink Terrace. The principal of the terraces we are now describing is the one leading to Waiwhokato, the famous alum cave, the exquisite and yet weird beauty of which would alone be a sufficient inducement to undertake the journey from Rotorua to Orakeikorako. When to this is added the countless geysers— the long ranges of other terraces, coloured from white to every tint of the rainbow, the exquisite beauty ol the scenery, the natural marvels of every description, it will be seen that though the central beauties of Rotomahana have departed, yet that numberless others, soarcely inferior, remain to attract the admirers of the beautiful, the picturesque and the wonderful, and to reward the researches of the naturalist. We have interviewed Mr, Percy Smith, i Assistant Surveyor-General, who is well

acquainted with the almost unknown terraces, and ho is convinced from personal knowledge that they not only exist, but that they will be speedily opened out and mada aucessiblo to tourists. Mr. Smith himself has seen some of them, and although he does not deem thern of the same age or perfection as those at Rotomahana, he believes that the}' are likely to prove very attractive. He thinks that some of the smaller terraces are still in process of formation. It may not be generally known that Dr. Hochstetter, more than twenty-seven years ago, drew very marked and prominent attention to the hot springs of Orakeikorako and described two terraces there. They are small, compared with those that existed at Rotomahana; but he observes (page 303) " tha water flows from one basin into the other, so that there is a triple choice of temperature. In the first basin 1 found 11GP., in the second 110 F., and in the third 9GF. The latter, at a depth of three to five feet, has the dimensions of a bathing tub; its basin is formed of snow-white silicious deposit, resembling the purest marble, and its crystalline water looked so inviting that I could not resist taking a bath in it," . . "On the opposite river bank lies the Pui a Puhi-tarata. The discharge from a basin full of sky-blue shining water forms a steaming cascade over strata of silicious deposits shelving off in terraces towards the river, and varying in the gaudiest colourswhite, red, and yellow. The same scene recurs five or six times up the river." It is surely worth a small expenditure of a few thousand pounds to open up a district such as that of Orakeikorako, which Dr. Hochstetter describes as one of the most remarkable in the world. Wo understand that Mr. Percy Smith has recommended that a road should at once be surveyed and made accessible, so that tourists may view the recent volcanic out. break at Rotomahana.

RELIEF FUND

On Tuesday, June 22, the choir of St, Benedict's Church gave a concert in the Foresters' Hall, Newton, the proceeds of which were to be set apart in aid of the sufferers by the recent Kotorua eruption. The amount taken at the doors amounted to £6 4s, and it is anticipated that this, with the money received from the sale of tickets, after deducting expenses, will leave about £10 available for the purposes for which the concert was organised. The opening entertainment of a series in connection with St, Sepulchre's, was given on June 24 at the Choral Hall, with very satisfactory results. Two hundred reserved seats were taken at the booking office, and between £9 and £10 were paid at the doors, so that a handsome addition will be made to the funrls of the Rotorua Relief Committee. A concert was given in the Newmarket Hall on Juno 30, in aid of the sufferers by the Rotorua disaster. A meeting of the Rotorua Fund Committee was held on July 6, His Worship the Mayor presiding. A letter was read from Mr. A, C. Black, of Rotorua, giving the names of a number of Europeans in the district who had suffered by the eruption, and who were urgently in need of assistance, It was agreed to send £100 at once to the committee at Rotorua for the relief of such cases. £5 was also voted to a family, the head of which had been a labourer at Kelly's Hotel, and who had left in const quence of the outbreak, Mr. R. C. Jordan, Mayor of Taurangs, writes to Mr. R. Ward, Herald office : "I beg to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of a P.O. order for £9 16s subscribed by the employes at the Herald office, to be used at my discretion for the relief of the sufferers by the late eruption. I am sure that in addition to its value as pecuniary aid it will be valued by the recipients as an expression of sympathy. I have paid the sum to the Bank of New Zealand to a fund to be administered by Mr. H. W. Brabant, R.M., and myself jointly. 1 need hardly say how welcome it is. Outsiders have no idea of the distress consequent on the eruption that will exist for months to come. Will you kindly get the manager of Herald to insert short paragraph acknowledging the receipt, and also the receipt of £6 2s from the Rev. C. CFirth from his parishioners ; also a hint that the necessities are great." Contributions to the Rotorua fond are being received daily. The Remuera Amateur Minstrels, through their hon. secretary, Mr. E. P. Goldsboro, have banded to the Town Clerk (in the Mayor's absence) the handsome donation of £30, being the proceeds of a concert on behalf of the fund. We have received the following sums for the benefit of the sufferers by the recent eruption in the Hot Lakes District, and have handed the same to Kis Worship the Mayor for distribution: 8.D., 103; E. Cox, 10s; a lady at Whangarei, £5; the proceeds of a concert given by the Misses Tutin at Mangawai, £3 7 Cd ; and an amount collected on board tho s.s. Te Anau, £7 ; in all, £1G 7s Gd. Up to the present the members of the House of Representatives have subscribed £70 towards tho relief of the sufferers by the recent volcanic disturbances. The Mayor acknowledges receipt of the following contributions to the Rotorua Relief Fund £5 voted by the Naval Artillery Corps and £2 2s from Miss Cantlon, Victoriastreet. He lias also received a communication from Mr. A. C. Black, secretary to the Rotorua Relief Committee, announcing that he has distributed £9S out of the £100 remitted from Auckland for relief of sufferers by Tarawera eruption.