Wairarapa Standard Published Tri-weekly, Price 1d. MONDAY, JUNE 14, 1886. A TERRIBLE CALAMITY

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XIX, Issue 1844, 14 June 1886, Page 2

Wairarapa Standard Published Tri-weekly, Price Id. MONDAY, JUNE 14, 1886. A TERRIBLE CALAMITY

It is hardly possible for the human imagination to realise to Jits full extent the awful horror of the calamity which came upon the people at Kotorua, Wairoa, and Tauranga during the earliest hours of last Thursday morning. At one o’clock on that morning the people of Rotorua were suddenly awakened from sleep by a great convulsion of Nature, The earthquake was upon them. The houses shook and rattled with throes and jerks as if their timbers would be rent to pieces. The earth itself quivered and .;vibrated in a great dumb agony. Affrighted men, women and helpless little children rushed into the streets awestruck and wondering as’to what had happened. Then a great roar and rumbling noise was heard and the horizon was suddenly lit up with a widespread glare, as if the sky itself were on fire. Rotomahana seemed to the onlookers to be a mass of fire and flames and smoke. But when the actual state of affairs had been realised—as it was after the lapse of some time—it was found that the old cratersof the triple peaked mountain Tarawera, long quiescent, had suddenly burst into eruption, and were belching forth flames and lava, and in every direction for many miles around. The sceae presented to eyewitnesses in several slightly distant places was one of awe-inspiring grandeur. Great masses of smoke rolled away from the burning and fire-vomiting volcanoes. Columns of flames shot up in the air to an immense height. Meteorsflashed on high into a firmament. There were sudden flashes of light following quickly one after another. Then long rumblings were broken by sudden explosions, like the roar of heavy artillery. Rocks, heavy stones, lava and sand were shot out of the craters and rained and fell upon the surrounding country and villages. The township of Wairoa was buried by the avalanche of mud, stones and lava poured upon it. The streets were covered ten feet deep, and most of the bouses nearly covered. The schoolmaster, Mr Hazard, and several of his family perished. Their house was buried and Mrs Hazard was afterwards dug out alive, thus escaping by a miracle. The Tauranga township ] also suffered badly. The Rotorua sanatorium, to which afflicted people came from every quarter of the world in the hope of “ going into the pool and being made whole," has, we feat, - been almost totally destroyed. It may be that should all these earthquakes and eruptions come to an end and quiet once more prevail, there will still be hot springs bubbling up out of the ground, which could be utilised for healing purposes. Then it would be easy to build a new sanatorium. But, alas, the dread visitation of that Thursday morning will utterly damn for years to come the name and fame of the hot springs of New Zealand as a place for invalids to seek the means of alleviation or cure for diseases. Tlie news of these eruptions will be flashed by cable and electric wire all over the civilised world. It will not be sufficiently understood that these earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have been confined to a very limited area of the North Island, which has always been regarded as the seat and centre of volcanic manifestations. The idea will be taken up in England that the volcanic eruptions and earthquakes have taken place in New Zealand generally, and so the whole colony will suffer through the report. But the most mournful feature of this terrible disaster has been tbe heavy loss of life which has occurred through it. At the present moment it is known that several Europeans are amongst the killed, while the number of the native dead list is as yet unknown. Hour by hour, as we write, fresh reports come in as to the number of persons killed, and before going to press we will add a line or two on this point, giving the latest news received. Meantime, it is cheering to know that, all over the colony, from the North Cape even unto the Bluff, a feeling of deep and heartfelt sympathy has been expressed for the sufferers by this terrible and unexampled disaster.