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Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20640, 1 February 1937, Page 12

A suggestion that the time had arrived when a national effort should be made to reserve what remains of the Maori whares and other buildings that survived the Tarawera eruption in June, 1886, is made by a Palmerston North resident, who has just made a tour of the North Island. Rotorua, he said, was noted for its many attractions, but one of the most interesting was the buried village of Te Wairoa The 50 years since the Tarawera eruption had witnessed the ravages of decay. What had escaped destruction would soon be lost and nothing would be left by which one could visualise the horror the inhabitants passed through on the awful occasion. As recently as 1935 a stone pateka in which the Maori stored food had been unearthed. It was a unique find, especially as the face of it was carved, and he thought that if excavation work was pushed ahead other relics would be found. Unfortunately, present indications were that the whole area would shortly be over-run with blackberry and ragwort.