A NATIVE LETTER FROM WHAKAREWAREW

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7827, 22 December 1886, Page 5

A NATIVE LETTER FROM WHAKAREWAREW

M. H. Taupopoki writes as follows from Whakarewarewa, near Ohinemutu : — " Reports have been Bent from here that would lead one to the belief that this district is unsafe, and that another eruption may again break out. Well, another eruption may take place now or t» thousand years' hence, that none of us can tell, but this I can say, not only for myself, but for the whole native population in the Rotorua district, that the fear of another eruption has long since disappeared. We certainly were very much afraid for a week or two after the late eruption, but now every one is happy and contented, and we are working quietly at our potato cultivations as of old. To prove to you that there is really not the slightest shadow of fear in us, I would state that I and the whole of my tribe Ngati wahiao are still living in our old settlement Whakarewarewa, where there are springs and geysers all around us. We have another settlement about 15 miles from here, where there are no hot springs, and to which place we did flee at the time of the eruption, but have long since returned. If we were still afraid we would not have returned here. Again, there is the Ngatiwhakaue tribe, who reside in Ohinemutu, where, as you perhaps know, there are also hot springs. These natives have another settlement called Maketu, on the sea coast, 20 miles from Tauranga, where there are no hot spring?, yet they will not go to Maketu, and why ? Because they consider all danger has passed, and there iB no fear in them. I could mention all the other tribes in this district, who have never left their settlements since the eruption, but the two instances I have stated are sufficient. As for earthquakes, there certainly were many soon after the eruption, but they have since become gradually less,not only in number,but also in severity, and now have almost ceased. It is dead. In conclusion, I can only reiterate what I have already stated, that we are living in our various settlements as though no eruption had ever taken place, and the , word fear is unknown," ~,