VETERAN GUIDE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23661, 21 May 1940, Page 9

VETERAN GUIDE

THE THERMAL REGION DEATH OF MR, A. WARBRICK GREAT ERUPTION RECALLED One of the most notable figures associated with the New Zealand thermal region, Mr. Alfred Warbrick, for 46 years chief Government guide at Rotorua, died at the Knox Home; Tamaki, yesterday, aged 80. Mr. Warbrick, who retired on superannuation in 1932, entered tho home in November, 1938. Ho was the second of four sons of Abraham Warbrick, a pioneer settler, and Karauna, a member of tho Arawa tribe. Born in a village on the shore of Lake llotomahana, he was given his first bath in a basin of tho lost White Terraces. After attending three schools in Auckland, Mr. Warbrick was apprenticed, on the advice of the then Native Minister, Sir Donald McLean, to the boatbuilding trade in tho Auckland yard of Mr. Charles Bailey, sen., and became well known for his skill in sailing small craft. For a time he was in business on his own account, but early in 1886 returned to Rotorua to look after family land interests and carry on his trade on the lake shore. Rescues Alter Eruption

When Mount Tarawera was rent by an eruption on tho night of June 9, 1886, Mr. Warbrick and three companions were on a pigeon-shooting expedition and were sleeping in a slab hut on Lake Tarawera. The hut was covered by torrents of mud, but they escaped through the roof and reached Ohinemutu after an arduous journey of 36 hours. Mr. Warbrick used often to say that his first thought, when he saw the mountain belching fire, was for the safety of his mother's remains, which had been buried in a cave high on one of its sides.

The following day he set off for Te Wairoa, the village where ho had been living. Loading a whaleboat and a skiff on to a six-horse dray, he ploughed through mud to Lake Tarawera and there launched the two craft. His expedition found two villages completely buried, with all their inhabitants, but he was able to save the lives of nine Maoris. Two Narrow Escapes Later Mr. Warbrick was lowered far into the crater occupying the site of Lake Rotomahana, and after ho had been hauled up ho and his companions stood on the brink for four hours dodging falling stones. Ho made an ascent of Mount Tarawera' some months after with a party of tourists, whom he persuaded to descend immediately before an explosion blew away the ground on which they had been standing. Appointed chief guide the same year, lie conducted over 10,000 visitors through the region without a single accident. Among distinguished personages whom he guided were the late King George V. and Queen Mary, the Grand Duke Alexander of Russia, the I)uke of the Abruzzi and 10 successive Governors and Governors-General. He made nearly 2000 ascents of Mount Tarawera. In 1903 he and a companion took an adventurous boat trip across the boiling basin of Waimangu Geyser. A keen footballer in his earlier years, Mr. Warbrick was a forward in the Maori team which visited England in 1888-89. The team included four other members of the Warbrick family. Mr. Warbrick was an unequalled authority on the lore and legends of the thermal region. In 1935 he published a small book, "Adventures in Geyscrland." He was married three times and is survived by his wife and a large adult family. A tangi will be held to-day at Whakarcwarewa, Rotorua, preceding the funeral.