TARAWERA ERUPTION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22971, 24 February 1938, Page 15

TARAWERA ERUPTION

DEATH OF EYE-WITNESS MR. HARRY LUNDIUS [BY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] WELLINGTON. Wednesday The denth has occurred at an advanced age of r, TTarry Lundius, foi many vears a member of the staff of the Lands and Surrey Department. The late Mr. Lundius, who resided at 7J Hawker Street, Wellington, was a native of Sweden, who came out to New Zealand in 1880. He was associated with different survey parties in the early davs, notably in the Rotorua and Tau'po districts, and it was while attached to one of these that he witnessed the great eruption of Mount Tarawera, in 1886, when seven Europeans and 147 Maoris lost their lives. Mr. Lundius alwnvs considered that he was lucky to have escaped with his life, for to all who survived that dreadful'experience it seemed as though the end of the world had come. Mr. Lundius was appointed a Crown Lands ranger in 1890 and remained in the emplov of the Lands and Survey Department (in the last quarter of a centurv in the Wellington district) until 1925, when he retired on superannuation. He leaves a widow, one son (Oscar) and a daughter (Jannette)