THE VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1522, 22 June 1886, Page 3

THE VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS.

. • Rotorua, June 20. ' Last night Messrs Arthur Hazard, .(brother of the late. Mr O. Hazard) Percy apd Leonard Robip*on returned from ati expedition to Wairoa, via Ksitirarie, bringing back the clothing of the Hazard family. They . took three horses and a pack horse and shovels to dig out the horses when bogged ■.. or to clear landslips. They, found'the Kaitimie track as bad as.tliat by Tikitapu, uvslnnohes of mud threaten->-sng’ to .precipitate them off the narrow traclr alongside L a ko Rotpkakahi into the rlajk». They slept in (he Runanga bouse . Wairoa op Friday night,’but owing to violent earthquakes got little sleep, as they were running outside at every shock. t: They had a terrible journey of 12 hours reach Rotorua.. Fortunately the rain : clouds (Rd not break over Wairoa, but : were carried northward, er the party (gogid had to abandon |heir horses •Mine I their way op foot to saye .their live*. As it was they'bad dig' out the boriM twios, ibe suction of the mud

being such that the horses could not lift their feet. They have no intention of returning for more goods, as the experiment, after yesterday’s experience, is too dang< rous. Some cattle brought out wo dd have died in a day or two, as they were only gnawing the roots of trees. The party report that strange natives from the inland settlements bad come down Lake Kotokhkahi in canoes, and were plundering Mcßae’s and Humphries* stores, clearing out blankets, clothing, etc. Mcßae has information that £2OOO worth is gone. There is comparatively Ultfe left, save a quantity of tins of salmon, and sardines; £IOO worth of hotel linen are gone. Some of the plunder is stated to have been carried away to the Upper Taupo. The Haeard party found the natives laying drunk in ffcKas’s hotel, having broken into the spirit cellar. Qlhcr natives had seized the remainder of the stock of liquor and carried it awsy. Constable Csvanagh left to-day for Kiitirsrie to intsreept the plunderers as they came back from Wairoa .by Lake Rotokakahi.' He recovered £4O worth of goods at Kaitirarie, the natives bolting. Thr weather being fine, Captain May with a party of five mounted men and pack horses, left this morning to try and penetrate to Wairoa and Kaitirarie to preserve the most valuable portion of his effects. Latest.

A heavy north-westerly gale, with n bitter steady rain, set in suddenly at 2 o’clock, and looks good for 24 hours. The first division of the party which went to Kotomabana this morning has just relerned. The party separated on the field into two divisions, one gjmg to the south volcanoes, and the other to the pink terrace. The southern party got caught hy a gale on the snndfields, t.nd at once struck back for their horses, which were left in charge of a Maori, and poshed on te Rotorua without a guide, fo blinding raiu, reaching here at dark. The Maori wan left at the rendesvous with the remainder of the horses to await the return of the second division, which h*d Mcßae as a guide from the pink terraces. Up to the time of closing the telegraph office no tidings of the parly have been rsceived. Boscoweu and Joshua Morgan, the guides, have just come in,-having abandoned the exploration of the volcanic region. Owing to the nor’-wester tbsy were unable to do anything. They returned by Kaiterarie to try to get a look at Wairoa. They found on reaching the green lake that the (ska Kotokakahi track was impassable from avalanches of mud. They are going out again as soon as weather permits. They felt a sharp earthquake at three this morning. Morgan informs me that the volcanoes are gradually exhausting themselves. He believes that in a few weeks visitors will bo ab’e to go right down and inspect them. Cavanagh has returned from Kaiterarie. He reports that he did not see anything of Captain May’s parly which left by that route for Wairoa this morning. If the rain continues fears are entertained that the mail coach on Tuesday will not be able to get through by *he Tepuke route. Downey reports that ho bad a hard job to get here from Tauranga by that line owing to the stench along the line at intervals from the carcases of cattle and horses which had been killed by starvation, and were still lying unburied.

The correspondent of the Press telegraphing from Rotorua on June 19 says : —The Natives at Paeroa are making an exodus from Paeroa to Eemunga for fear of an outburst. The country is all honeycombed, and both Europeans and Maoris are in terror. VOLCANIC DUST AT SEA. The Napier Evening News says:— When the s.s, Southern Cross was off East Cape Island, at 5 a,in. on Thursday, a dense black cloud came up from the southward, from which vivid flashes of lightning issued. This soon enveloped the vessel nod a downpour of sand and mod commenced. This continued from 6.30 till 10.30. All this time intense darkness was experienced. One literally could not see his hand before him. Pale electric lights danced about the maetheads and rigging, shewing now deeply the air was charged with the mysterious force. A gale of wind was blowing from the southward—bsr. 31.10 —apd severs! sails were blowp away before thsy could be got in, When about 20 miles from the land, the light broke overhead. The ship s deck was then covered by about three inches of sand and mud, and the rigging wan caked with a sort of cement, formed from a grsy mud, which on striking anything stuck there. As the dust cloud seemed to recede, at 1} a.m. {lie vessel was headed for the south again, and at night anchored off East Cape. The job of picking up the land was a very tedious one, as a thick brown smoky hage bung over it. After the first escape ffofq under the cloud no more sand fell on deck, Samples of the deposit can be seen at the Union Company’s office at the Spit. East Capo Island is about 130 miles, as the crow flies, from Rotorua, and the 20 miles run out gives 150 miles as the travel of ths dust cloud in a north-easterly direction.