JOTTINGS AT AUCKLAND.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 157, 19 June 1886, Page 6

JOTTINGS AT AUCKLAND.

The Eruption Seen From Mount Eden. During the last two or three days Mount Eden has been crowded with persona, who were looking earnestly in the direction of Kotorna, Between three and four o'clock on Sunday tne afternoon their paitenne was rewarded for a column of smoke or vapour could be plainly seen rising heavenward. One gentleman states that there was a sufficiently lurid glow to wairent the suppositions that in the darkness a light would have been discernable. In the evening, after church, the mountain top was again covered with an eager crowd, which constantly increased until about 10 o'clock. This time, however, nature refused to get up a display, beyond an occasional fire ball, which in the distance looked like a shooting star. Many of the sight-seers were armed with telescopes, which they kept steadily turned in the direction of the volcanos. It ia evident that the volcanos must have been in extra commotion lost evening, sertral residents hearing volcanic reports.

APPLICATIONS FOR AID. On Saturday afternoon His Worship the Mayor received the following telegram from Rotorua : " Relief will be much needed here in the shape of flour, sugar, blankets, and flannel. The Tuhourangi are being fed by the other tribes at present. Native people all crying over their dead.— G. S. GIUIIAM."

LETTER FROM THE REV. MR. FAIKBROTHER. The Rev. Thos. Spurgeon has received the following .letter from the Rev. Mr tfairbrother :—: — Morrisons Rotorva Hotel, Ohinemutu, June 11th, ISB6, 7.30 p.m. • Dear Brother : I have just now returned from Tarawera. Desolation reigns everywhere. Only two houses standing, others buried in lava. Rode 10 miles through lava to-day. Lavaabout4 feetdeep it Tarawora, and vory heavy. Have found the bodies of Mr Hazard and four children — Adolphus, Wini, Mona, and Oharlie. The scene of desolation makes my heart bleed and my eyes to weep. One poor old friend threw her arms roand my neck and we wept together. Their stories to me of that night are heartrending. Father, mother, and two children in one house, and while the lava waa pouring on the whare, Mohi said, " Fairbrother taught as to pray and we will," and they did. i Mother and little boy dead, the little boy was named after me. 50 people assembled m big carved house, and they toll me all bhey did was to pray, and not one was hurt. Oh ! the stories will nigh break my heart. [ go back to-morrow to try and get to Te Ariki to see if any are alive over there. Poor people have lost everything. Will the Tabernacle friends send old blankets and clothes. The nights are intensely sold. Ice everywhere in the morning. If you can get clothes or > blankets send in sacks, via Oxford, or catch boat on Mon« day night. I shan't leave now until obliged. Rod moves in a mysterious way, and I bow to His will. Why am I saved? Birds, beasts, and insoctw have all gone. Not a sign of life, ltof orua not touched. Brethren pray for ws. — Yours, 1 etc, Alfred Fairbrotheu. t - f » ' j

clothing ran destitute Maoris On Sunday last an appeal was made from the Tabernacle pulpit by Pastor Spurgeon, for clothing, on behalf of the destitute Maoris of Wairoa, Tarawera. The response to Mr Spurgeon's appeal was prompt and liberal, and by 5 o'clock on Monday evening upwards of a ton of wearing apparel was left at the Tabernacle for the use of the unfortunate natives. The committee has sent a telegram this morning to the Hon. the Minister for Public Works, praying that the- clothing may be sent to Oxford carriage free.

CONSTABLES TO BE SENT TO KOTORUA. On Sunday, in consequence of the tele--gram of our special reporter regarding the need of assistance, the proprietor of this journal wired an urgent message to Mr E. Mitchelson, M.H.R., that there was great indignation at the apathetic attitude of the Government, and asking why tho constabulary at Waikato had not been sent to assist in the rescue of the natives. Mr Mitchelson waited on the Government, and succeeded in inducing them to send the constabulary. Mr Mitchelson wires :—": — " Government state that they are going to do everything possible. Constabulary ordered from Thames to Waikato."

FOOD SCARCE. Owing to the destruction at Te Ngae and in the direction of Galatea, places from which Rotorna was sxiipplied with beef and mutton, there will be treat scarcity in meat and dairy produce at Rotorua, and these products will probably have to be supplied trom Patetere, Matamata, and Waikato.

The Late Mr Hazard. have been kindly furnished with the following particulars concerning the late Mr Charles Albert Hazard, whose melancholy death, in conseqnence of the volcanic eruption in the Lake country, we have had to record : The deceased gentleman had been a resident in this province for 27 years, having emigrated here from Prince Edward Island in 1859. Mr Hazard was born in that island in ]SlO, and consequently was 46 years of age when killed by the eruption of Mount Tarawcra. Mr Hazard's ancestors wore among the eavly settlers of America, having emigrated to Rhode Island in the 17th century. At the time of the American revolutionary "wars his paternal great grandfather and family were staunch loyalist^, .and at the termination of the war left their estate in Rhode Island and settled on Prince Edward Island, a country at that time spnrsley populated, covered by a dense forest, and recently taken from the French. Mr Hazard's family for 100 years have led a prominent pait in the history of Prince Edwaid Inland, and few men, for over 40 years, were better known than Colonel Hazard, the father of the gentleman so unfortunately killed.