THE BURIED TERRACES

Taranaki Daily News, 21 September 1931, Page 11

THE BURIED TERRACES

THERMAL PHENOMENA. SCHEME FOR RECOVERY. The belief that if Lake Rotomahana were drained there would be every possibility of uncovering the wonderful Pink and White Terraces, which were destroyed in the Tarawera eruption in 1886, is still held by Mr. Alfred Warbrick, the famous guide of the Government round trip in the thermal regions. Mr. Warbrick’s knowledge of the district is unsurpassed. He has been a guide for over 41 years, and the eruption itself is still to him a vivid memory. “If we had the terraces to-day,” he stated in an interview, “New .Zealand would be the richest country in the world. Many people hold the view that the terraces were destroyed, but they have not been able to prove their contention, and I honestly think that it would repay the Government to explore the possibilities of draining Lake Rotomahana so that the site of the terraces may be explosed once again. Thia would be a simple matter. “The surface of the adjoining lake, Lake Tarawera, is 146ft"below that of Rotomahana, and if a channel were cut between the two lakes the terraces, or what remained of them, would be exposed. I do not think myself that the terraces were destroyed. Naturally they would be covered by deposits from the eruption, but they were made of granitelike silica, and it is extremely probable that they were preserved. “Even if they could not be restored to their former state, they would still constitute the greatest wonder in the Dominion. They were perhaps the grear_est phenomena ever created by Nature, and should only a portion of them be uncovered they would have an interest that some of the buried cities like Pompeii in Europe have. “I have endeavoured for years to get the Government interested in the matter,” said Mr. Warbrick, ‘'and at different times the press has helped me in the matter, but bo far no definite steps have been taken. The late Sir Thoma,s Mackenzie was interested in the proposition when he was Prime Minister, and admitted that even it a corner of the terraces were restored it would bring thousands of people to the site, but the negotiations did not get further than that.”