WAIMANGU ERUPTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21146, 1 April 1932, Page 6

WAIMANGU ERUPTION.

(FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY. DEATHS OF TWO PERSONS. CAUGHT IN DOOMED HOUSE. The fifteenth anniversary of the Waimangn eruption, resulting in the death of two persons, falls to day. At 6.20 a.m. 011 the morning of April 1, 1917, the Waimnnga geyset. situated on Frying 'Pan Flat, 17 miles from Botorua, burst into • activity, totalling wrecking the Government accommodation house and seriously injuring the custodians, Mr. and Mrs. McCormick, and their fonr-year-olrl son. Mrs. McCormick and the child subsequently died of injuries. The whole of Frying Pan Flat became involved in the activity, and a great volume of steam, rocks and mud swept, up the valley without warning, unroofing the house in its progress and carrying parts of it 800 yds. to the ridge beyor.d. The inmates,* caught unexpectedly by the upheaval, sought refuge under tho beds, but f earing to be trapped in tho doomed, house by the rapidly-accumulat-ing red-hot mud, they decided to evacuate the building. An investigation revealed that all exits from the front of the house were already blocked, but they succeeded after much trouble in escaping by way of the back door. Mr. and Mrs. McCormick and the child were already suffering intensely from burns end scalds as a result of contact with the hot mud and steam, but notwithstanding her injuries Mrs. McCormick decided to endeavour 'to reach the residence of Mr. Wood, the nearest neighbour, to give the alarm. Help From Neighbour. Fortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Wood, noticing tliat something untoward was happening, had already set out toward the geyser, and meeting Mrs. McCormick, conveyed her tc their house. Mr. Wood also assisted Mr. McCormick and his small child to shelter and then set forth on horseback to Botorua for medical assistance.

The resident officer at Rotorua immediately procured a motor-car and proceeded to the scene accompanied by Dr. Osborne. About half-way out they were met by a car with the three injured people and the doctor accompanied them to the Eotorua Hospital.

So great was the force of the eruption that Frying pan Flat completely disappeared, leaving in its place a huge crater, while the configuration of the country in the vicinity of the old Waimangu geyser was scarcely recognisable. The activity lasted several days and cm occasions th« " shots " from the several blow-holes .in the crater reached, a height of 3000 ft. and more. The original entrance to Frying Pan Flat was completely blocked by a deposit or. silt 100 ft. xiigh, while a brownish deposit of mud covered the country for miles around.

The existence of the Waimangu geyser was discovered by Dr. Humphrey Haines and Mr. J. A. Pond, of Auckland, in February, IC'OO. Its periods of activity were irregular, but it was known to have played as many as 50 times on one morning, " shooting " as high as 500 ft. Tragedy in 1903.

The geyser was the scene ol' a tragedy on August 30, .1905, when four spectators, the Misses K. arid 11. Nicholls, of Canterbury, Mr. David McXaughton, of Ponsonby, and Mr. Joseph Warbrick, a brother of the guide, Mr. Alfred Waribrick, were overwhelmed bv an eruption while watching Waimangu " piay " from a distance of 45yds. About three weeks prior 1.0 this fatality Guide Warbrick and Mr. 11. E. Buckeridge had crossed the surface of the geyser in a small boat, when they measured and sounded the pool. It was then 48ft. at its greatest depth, 80vds. wide and 134vds* long. Waimangu became dormant after the disaster of 1903. owing, it was thought, to a sudden reduction of Lake Tarawera. A small blow out occurred in 1912, but the first real' signs of renewed activity occurred on January 28, 1914, when a comparatively small hole was blown in the raupo flat. - This hole continued active until the further eruption of April 12, 1915. when it "shot" hundreds of feet in the air. The various phenomena at Waimangu from 1910 to 1915 gradually enlarged Frying Pan Lake, when it increased in size and depth from 14 square feet and 1? inches in depth to 63 square feet and seven inches in depth.

The last outburst of any note to take place prior to the 1917 tragedy occurred on November 5 and 6, 1915, when the majority of . Frying Pan Flat was blown fiway and a cavity 60ft. across was formed. From that date until the eruption of 1917 the geyser was virtually quiescent.