THE LOST TERRACES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2921, 9 March 1910, Page 89

THE LOST TERRACES.

INTERESTING FACTS AND SPECU LATIONS.

Since the publication of the Press Association telegram from Rotorua recently, announcing Guide Warbrick's belief that tho pink and white terraces of Lake Rotomahaaa, destroyed by the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886, are still in existence, buried under 110 ft of mud and ash, which came from the crater, and this deposit, in turn, under the waters of the lake to a depth of 125 ft, many opinions have been expressed on the subject. ■Scientific men are not in the least inclined to support Mr' Warbrick in the view he takes, and Mr S. Percy Smith confidently says that the terraces were blown out of existence, and that many fragments of them were afterwards picked up in the neighbourhood. The writer had an opportunity of talking the matter over with Mr Warbrick during a recent visit to Wairoa, and as the latter was the first man to visit the region after the eruption, and is profoundly convinced from what he then saw that there is reasonable hope for believing that the terraces were not blown up, but covered with an immense deposit of mud and ashes, the views he expressed and the information he gave are worth.recording. It may be remembered by some of our readers that as a result of that awful cataclysm, when the mountain, up to that time inactive and apparently harmless, suddenly changed its nature, and for four hours one night rained millions of tons of mud and stones on a wide region .surrounding it, the loss of life was great, two Native villages near the mountain being bui-ied, and two other localities, 10 miles distant across Lake Tarawera, also suffering so severely from the rain of volcanic mud and ashes that many lives were lost including the Hazard family and an English tourist named Bainbridge. The place that knew the terraces became part of Lake Rotomahana, whose waters rose enormously owing to the vast quantities of mud and ashes the lake received, and from other causes, so that it is computed there is a difference in the present ana former levels of the lake of over 100 ft. The lake is still rising, the difference in level since October last being no less than Bft. It has no outlet, and a project is now afoot, and under consideration by the irovemaient, for cutting an outlet towards Lake Tarawera, whose level is about. 115 ft jewer than that of Lake Rotomahana. The waters of Lake Rotomahana would, after the cutting of about 40 chains of a canal, quickly find their way into Lake Tarawera am- expose the superincumbent mass of mud which Mr Warbrick believes covets the terraces. He fa- quite clear as 'to the practicability of the scheme, and equally confident that the pink and white

terr..ies, if it is carried out and the mud sluioed away, will again be brought to ligh', and prove a source of delight and interest to thousands of visitors to the district, as they did in the days before ths eruption. Rotomahana before the eruption of 1886 was a warm Jake with an area of about 350 to 400 acres. Its depth in the deepest part was about 32ft. During the night of the eruption the contour of the lake was changed. About 5000 acres was added to the old lake. The present level of the lake is about 125 ft higher than the old lake level. With regard to the depth of mud on the Terraces. Mr Warbrick believes that the White Terrace is covered to a depth of 100 ft or more, and the Pink Terrace to a depth of 70ft to 80ft. To remove the mud off the Terraces, in Mr Warbrick's opinion, would be an easy, matter, the method suggested by Mr Warbrick being sluicing with water power. The difference in level of the two lakes at present is about 115 ft, Rotomahana being higher than Tarawera. The number of people killed by the eruption of Tarawera was very large. At Te Ariki 51 Maoris and Mr S. Brown lost their lives; at Moura 39 (all Maoris) ; at the Pink Terraces 11 (all of one family, relatives of Mr Warbrick); at Te .Wairoa. five Europeans (Mr Hazard and three children and Mr Edwin Bainbridge) and nine Maoris. It was at Te Wairoa where Mr Warbrick hauled Tunoto, the old Maori prophet-tokunga, out alive after being buried five days. At Tokiniho- 16 Maoris were killed. Their remains Were found only six months ago, all in one house. Four other Maoris (Tamihana and wife and two children) were killed about a mile and a-half away from Rotomahana. Total killed, six Europeans and 130 Maoris. For some years after the eruption volcanic ash and mud, interspersed with great stones, covered the country to a great depth for many miles around, and the whole of the beautiful bush on the shore of Lake Tarawera was utterly destroyed. AH the scrub and smaller bush was entirely covered with the mud, and any larger trees killed. A great process of regeneration lias, however, been at work for several years, and there is a fine growth of many varieties of native trees of the smaller kind. Among them are many fine young pohutukawa, and last December these were in beautiful bloom. It is difficult to realise that this verdure-clad region on the lake shore was a few years back an arid waste. Discussing this with Mr Warbrick he admitted that it was impossible that seeds on the ground at the time of the eruption could have germinated through the immense mass of stuff which covered them, nor was it any more probable that the scrub could have grown again from the roots. It seems certain, therefore, that the seeds of the new vegetation must have been brought by the wind from the nearest

bush".. But whatever the explanation there is the gratifying result that the shore of .Lake Tarawera and a good deal of the country in the vicinity is now clad with a reproduction of its old beautiful bush, and that the crimson blossom of the pohutukawa once more gladdens the eye of the visitor at the close of the year as it did in pre-eruption days.