AFTER THE WAIT, OH, WHAT A DELUGE!

NZ Truth, Issue 1223, 9 May 1929, Page 1

AFTER THE WAIT, OH, WHAT A DELUGE!

Should he wait until the question

Mayor J. K. Archer, an avowed

Water Diviner Divined The Secret Spring, but Failed To Divine The Hot Shower That Followed

THE PIPE BLEW OUT ONE NIGHT AT OHINEMUTU

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Commissioner). In a moment of inspiration, a' poet— or could it have been a vaudeville actor?— once made the trite observation that "variety is the spice o^life." There is a man m Rotorua who is prepared to admit that this is true only up to a point, and that point being reached to counter with the truism that there is a limit to everything, variety included, but hot water especially.

AT Ohinemutu he lives, just past the historic old pah that is still one of the show places of the thermal region, which is near the very spot where Hinemoa sought the arms of her beloved Tutanekai after her legendary swim from Mokoia Island. N Right m the very middle of the roadway boiling springs force their way to the surface and the traffic perforce has to detour. At the door of the church, the edge of the lake or any likely ,or'unlikely spot, the steam-^vj'to be seen rising lan-guidjy--<rbm the warm pools or jj>"'^ng viciously from tiny blow T^Tioles. Whilst these pools bubbled and boiled around and near him and actually warm pools simmered m the backyards of his neighbors, thus proving a great

Water Diviner

boon to the housewives on washing day, his own backyard might have been m th'e middle of the Sahara desert or the Rocky Mountains for all the signs of a spring that it showed. All the washing that was done had to be by means of the humble and. plebian copper. ' ■■ ' Then Opportunity knocked at his door and Opportunity this time was m the guise of a water-diviner. Now; Ohinemutu is as likely a place as any for a water- diviner to operate, for truly there is water m plenty for him to practise on. And, as we all know, it is practice ■that makes perfect. Water -diviners, the same as anybody else, are entitled to have material on which to try their art.- -. It is not recorded exactly why he came to pick on the particular place concerned m this story, but

it is reasonable to assume that two things were the main contributing factors to the selection. In the first place it was one of the few dry spots m the township. In the second the owner wanted water. Here was a chance for the diviner to prove his worth, and prove his worth he did. After various inspections', deductions and other intricate actions 'he indicated a spot as a likely one m which to strike a source of water supply. Undoubtedly he used great judgment m choosing the place for it was right alongside the washhouse. In no time a bore was sunk beneath the surface and all made ready to receive the promised supply. But there seemed to be a hitch m the arrangements somewhere for the water did not gush forth. Deeper went the bore and still no water and then there came a time when hope started to fade and doubts about the diviner's ability must have entered, the resident's mind.

The hours grew into days, the .days into weeks and rust began to accumulate on, the iron pipe of the bore, not, however, from the expected water, but from the ordinary cold rain, and the resident's hopes had grown as cold as the rain. Then the silence of the night was rent by. a roar that would have rivalled the noise. of Dante's inferno. . The very world seemed to be ending m a roaring of water and a hissing of steam.' Astonished and startled, the citizen rushed from his warm bed to investigate. What a sight met his eyes! At last the water, long hoped for and despaired, of,: had arrived. Forty feet ingh.it roared, bubbling and boiling, and what was left of the washhouse and all its impedimenta was dancing a merry jig iri the middle of it. Moses might have felt pleased as well as astonished when the water gurgled forth after he hit the rock, but this issue of . water was not the

gurgling variety, rather it hissed, steamed, and flung itself about uncomfortably. , The resident felt that he held little m common with Moses, and then again, Moses didn't lose a perfectly, good' washhouse m the rush. However, every misfortune has its compensating features, and though the washhouse was gone for good, and the family found it hard to sleep at night