WHITE ISLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 1320, 17 March 1877, Page 7

WHITE ISLAND.

(PROM OCR AUCKLAND CORRESPONDENT.)

The Union Company's fine vessel the Wanaka is a welcome addition to our coasting service, and will fill a void in the East Coast traffic which has often caused much, inconvenience. She has been visited by a considerable number of persons while lying in this harbour, and has given satisfaction to all who saw her. The traffic, especially to the Hot Lakes, ought to be of a growing character, and find her full employment.

Speaking of the Hot Lakes reminds me of another place of very great interest which the Wanaka has to pass on her way to and fro along the coast. Sulphur, or White Island, to which I am referring, contains about 600 acres, abounding in sulphur in every stage of purity and development. It is the property of Air J. A. Wilson and Mr F. H. Troup. These gen tlemen are now engaged in perfecting arrangements for the exjjort of the sulphur to Australia, to India, and to Ohiua, as well as for the supply of the home market in New Zealand. The quantity of sulphur used in New Zealand ■alone is 150 tons per annum, worth about L 22 per ton, cr L 3300 in all. The Australian Colonies consume over L 20.000 worth per annum, while the consumption in China and in India is immense. You will see, therefore, that the export, when fairly started, may reach considerable proportions. Mr J. A. Wilson, one of the proprietors, is the gentleman who was so long engaged in the Native Land Purchase Department, and whose official report in June last has been the subject of so much comment, wherever it has become known. He recently purchased the half interest in the Island from its former proprietors, and has an energetic coadjutor in Mr F. H. Troup, a gentleman long resident in the Auckj land Province, and connected with influential capitalists at Home. White Island is one of .the finest sights in New Zealand, ani it may lie said the finest of its kind anywhere. There is nothing even at the famous Rotomahana to equal it. The height of the island is over 900 feet, and it forms an immense crater, of which the floor, slightly elevated above the sea level, form a plain of a hundred acres. The walls of the crater are sheer precipices, varying in altitude from 500 to 900 feet. Through these walls the sea has broken its way in ages past in two or three places. Large gaps have thus been made to the south and east, affording level approaches from the beach to the crater. The crater is in full activity, and the grandeur cf the scene is not easily depicted. There are the lofty crater walls, with their precipitous faces and varied colours. In the middle of the crater there is a beautiful little take, ever changing its hue with the action and reaction of the subterranean forces below aud around it. Wreaths of vapour and curtains of smoke, assuming all colours and fantastic shapes, ascend from the Plutonic furnaces at the edges of the lake. t They entrance the gazer with their variety and beauty, and produce an impression not easily erased. The richest deposits of sulphur are on the floors of the crater and round its inner sides. Some of these deposits have have been dis 'covered by digging. Others are on the surface. Some are found in beds, denoting the sides of ancient craters, in which the ore was sublimated in ages past. Other beds lie just as they were made, fresh, bright, and purei from Nature's own laboratory. The lake is about 15 acres in area, and about 20ft deep. Its water is largely impregnated with sulphurous acid. Free sulphur ia also to be sometimes seen floating on its waters in a large proportion— perhaps 20 per cent, of their volume. The temperature of the lake ranges from warm to boiUng, and varies in different parts ' of the lake. The heat is governed entirely by the subterranean action, and — strange as it may seem — this action is in its turn_ apparently governed by meteorological conditions. In north-easterly weather the volcano is very active, the bottom of the lake is much disturbed, and the sulphur is mixed ■up more thoroughly with the waters of the lake than in any other weather. Sufficient ore has been found iv the island to employ a refinery night and day for several years. Other beds will doubtless be found as the island is worked. Under the waters of the lake there are many thousand tons of sulphur of the best quality. This hos been proved more than once when the lake has dried up, which it sometimes does. The bottom and the sides are then fully exposed to view. If necessary the drainage could be always effected easily enough, but I am told that the propriators regard this lake as a sulphur factory in itself, and will religiously preserve it, being contented to avail themselves of its stores when periodically dried un by natural cau32s. The whole island is, for tnat matter, continually making sulphur, and is a huge sublimating factory, of which the action and the fume 3 are evident to passers by when a considerable distance away. The waters cf the lake have great healing powers. This has been proved by the few who have tried them. Fisii of the finest kind resort to the waters around the island, attracted, probably, by the warmth during the colder seasons of the year. The only drawback is the absence of a good harbour, but there is nothing to prevent vessels loading easily and safely, with a little outlay to provide the means of doing so. Of course the island is uninhabited, but it is within easy reach of Tauranga, and will be continually passed by the Wanaka on her way to and from the East Cape to Auckland. It is au object of exceeding interest, and will amply repay a visit on ths part of the steamer, if it is not found to interfere too much with her other work. Between White Island and the coast there is another island of somewhat similar kind, though much smaller and without the same great natural attractions. This is known as Whale Island, and iv also abounds in sulphur ore. To refine the ore, a factory is about to be established at Woodside (Stokes Point), just opposite to Auckland. The proprietors of Whale Island are— Mr Pond, one of our chemists, and Mr Tunny, the Provincial Analyet. It is said the factory is to be started soon by these gentlemen, and there is little doubt that, before long, sulphur will figure among our productions, and no longer be allowed to waste its sweetness and its profits as in the past.