FEARFUL VOLCANIC ERUPTION IN THE NORTH.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XIX, Issue 1843, 11 June 1886, Page 2

FEARFUL VOLCANIC ERUPTION IN THE NORTH.

MOUNT TARAWERA BURSTS FORTH. AN AWFUL NIGHT AT ROTORUA. THE INHABITANTS FLEE FOR THEIR LIVES. NEW SPRINGS BURST OU T. NATIVE SCHOOLHOUSE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. THE SCHOOLMASTER AND FAMILY KILLED. TORRENTS OF HOT MUD AND STONES HOUSES BURIED UP TO THE EAVES. SEVERAL NATIVES KILLED. News was received yesterday morning of fearful volcanic disturbances in the Hot Lakes District. As yet the information does not give many details, so that the extent of the calamity cannot bo told. Prom the various telegrams received we collate the following— Rotorua., Thursday, 8 12 a.m. Wo are in the midst of a terrible convulsion of nature. The extinct volcano cones at Tarawera and Rotomahana burst into activity between one and two this morning. A continual succession of earthquakes was felt until about five o'clock, and now slight thunder and lightning are almost incessant, and mill continuing. Immense volumes of flames and smoke from the cones, and steam from the locality of the White Terrace are pouring forth. Showers of dust and grit reached here a little before six o’clock, but a fortunate shift of wind has since diverted them. It is an awfully grand sight, and rest mbles Martin’s picture of “ The Last Day,” The people are greatly excited. Many have cleared out for Oxford aud Tauranga. The lake has risen considerably. Many new springs luve burst out. There D a small geyser just below my house. No serious damage has been here so far. Most of the people fled in their nightdresses. 9.18 a. lll. A buggy has just returned from Te Wairoa. There li"? been a terrible catastrophe there. The Native SchOblhouse was stiuck by lightning, and while burning was overwhelmed with torrents of hot mud and stones. Mr Hazard aud family are all.-ie -■ excepting! the two eldest girls, who «vr - saved by Mr Lundon pulling them through the window. M’Bas's Hotel is demolished One tourist staying there 1* nrssing. The servants and also Mis Himuhrks la i e come iu, and state that falling mud ne nl.i knocked them down. M’Rae and Ruruphikare still ont there. Several natives artknown to bs killed. I think there is uo hj plor those at Te Anka and Moera. ' 1 am goi g out with a relief party to see what cm ladone. —H. Johnson. Some surveyors from Wairoa have an.veil They look as though they had been tioouga lime kiln, Wairoa is covered with ten feet of mud, stones, aud ashes, though six miles distant, as the crow flies, from the

craters. At Ngae, ono mile, thirty feet of mud ia reported. No hopes are entertained for the native settlements at Ariki and Tepahoro.

Mrs Hazard has been rescued, (bat injured. Four of her children were dead alongside her. The hotels are in ruins Two of the family were luckily away. Fourteen bodies of natives have been recovered at Wairoa only. Another telegram says .—The whole road and country round is covered with blue mud three feet deep. At Wairoa it is ten feet deep. Houses all buried or up to eaves. Taupo, Thursday. At 2 o’clock this morning a terrific report woke everybody here, when an immense flare was observed, and a continuous shower of meteors shot through the air. Heavy shocks of earthquake followed in quick succession. The town is covered with ashes.

Tauranoa, Thursday. Loud reports and heavy earthquakes began here, and continued until 5 a.m. Taurauga ia in darkness, and thick clouds of sulphurous matter, gypsum, Ac., in the air. Mounts Tarawera and Botomahana are reported to have broken out, and eruptions are going on continually. The Mayor has telegraphed to Auckland for steamers.

Ohinemdtd, Thursday. We have all passed a fearful night here. The earth has been iu a continual quake since midnight. At 2.10 am there was a heavy quake, then a fearful roar which made everyone run out of their bouses ; and a grand yet terrible sight, for those so near as we were presented itself. Mount Tarawera, close to Rotomahaua, became suddenly an active volcano, belching out fire aud lava to a great height. The eruption appears to have extended itself to several places southwards. A dense mass of ashes came pouring down here at 4 am, accompanied by a suffocating smell from the lower regions. The mountains was one continual mass of electricity all night, aud is still the same. Between the roar of thunder, the roaring of three or four different craters, and the stench, aud the con linual quaking of the earth, several families left their homes in their night dresses with whatever they could seize in the hurry, and made for Taurauga. Others, who were laoky, got horses and left for Oxford. Hundreds of new boiling springs have broken out all round hers, and in the middle of the road. Auckland, Thursday. The whole country from Lake Taupo to Taurauga is covered with thick smoke, dark as midnight. The Maoris and Europeans are rushing about in great excitement. Property of all kinds is completely destroyed, Flashes of fire are plainly visible in Auckland and suburbs, proving the gigantic nature of the eruptions. The steamship Wellington is leaving for Taurauga to take off refugees. The reports of the explosion at Tarawera heard in Auckland, gave rise to a rumour that the Russian ‘man of war Veslnik was ashore in the Manukau.

From the Post of last evening we learn that from the scene of the eruption to Tauranga, as the crow flies, is about 55 miles and to Taupo 50 miles. The distance to Gisborne is 120. Rotorua is situated ro miles from Wairoa and about 20 from Tarawera mouuntain.

Te Wairoa is the village where the coaches with tourists for the terraces stay, and is six miles from Tarawera.

Tarawera Mountain, the scene of the volcanic eruption, two miles from Rotomahana. It is, or was about 2800 feet high with three table tops, separated by two extinct craters, the formation of which is beyond the memory of man. For fifteen generations the natives living near the spot have carried their dead to the top, where thousand of skeletons lay exposed —a sort of *■ Tower of Silence.” The spot was very “ lapu," and the Maoris have always held that any stranger going there would bring about a storm. They will probably now attribute the eruption tuthiscause. Although there are (or were) two craters on the top of the mount, there has been no eruption within the memory of man, and the Maoris had no traditions whatever respecting this mountain, though there are innumerable traditions respecting other eruptions in the North. The only eruption in the Hot Lake district which caused loss of life is said to have occurred about 120 years ago, when a portion of the Ohinerautu pah, called Uruika, was submerged in a part of tho lake which was boiling. On that occasion about 40 natives were soalded to death. % It is feared that the Pink and White Terraces of Rotomabana will be destroyed. Later. Mrs Hazard had a miraculous escape, The falling beams of the house rested on a cheffonier. She was dug out comparatively uninjured. Two children beside her were dead. Mr Hazard and the other children not yet dag out. Mrs Hazard was carried on a stretcher for five miles, as a buggy could not got through. The whole surface of the country is changed. It is covered with mud about five feet deep, as also the surrounding country for miles, at varying depths according to distance. The eruption seems to have spent its force, but dense volumes of smeke and steam are still issuing, and enveloping the whole eastern horizon. There was an awful gloom nearly all day. Rotorua is by rough measurement, as the crow flies, about 120 miles south east from Auckland, aud about 240 miles to the northwards of Wellington.