BURIED FOREST

Patea Mail, 4 March 1936, Page 4

BURIED FOREST

ROTORUA DISCOVERY. TRUNKS WELL PRESERVED, ■Workmen who have been engaged ia the tusk of digging a drain, through an area of grownd between Ranolf Avenue and Tarawa Road, paraded to Pukuatua Street, Rotorua, have revealed the fact that the land had ,at one time been covered by a dense forest. When the work of digging the trench was commenced the authorities had no conception of the difficulties which lay ahead. The varieties of trpes that have so far been .uncovered arc riuiu, 'white [line, rata, totani, matai, and manuka. The borough foreman, Mr. J. Dinsdale, stated that some of the timber was in an excellent state of preservation, some appearing as though tho trees had been felled only recently. The majority of trees uncovered by workmen were lying at a depth of approximately 3ft to Tift, while the diameter of the larger trunks measured between Mft to I ft. It is quite possible that still larger quantities of He buried deeper below the level of the drain. Maoris express tho opinion that the section of ground which is now swamp land had once been on a much highoi evel, because the classes of timber which had been found did not grow on low-lying land. It is quite possible that a subterranean disturbance caused the land to sink, and that with tho passing of several decades tho trees have been covered.