His Excellency on Tour.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXI, Issue I, 4 July 1903, Page 44

His Excellency on Tour.

INTERESTING TRIP BY RAIT

EXTRACTS FROM MAJOR ALEXANDER’S JOURNAL. ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOS BY LORD NORTH LAND AND CAPT. BOSCA WEN.

At the request of the editor. Major Alexander (Private Secretary) has kindly consented to allow us to publish a portion of the private journal he is keeping during his stay in the colony. The following is an account of the last train trip taken by the vice-regal partv.

We have been on another of our railway trips in the Auckland district It is difficult to write anything new about these railway jaunts, as they have already been described: however. I will try to make out a record of our doings. On Mav 4 the Governor. Lady Ranfurly. Lady Constance Knox. Lady Eileen Knox. Miss Costello, the lion. C. HillTrevor. A.D.C.. Lord Northland. A.D.C.. the Hon. H. C. Butler. A.D.C. and myself. started in a special train for the Rotorua district. “The Wonderland” of Xew Zealand. Captain Boscawen. A.D.C.. joined us later at Te Aroha. The first day we got to Mamaku. which is situated in a dense forest about 1800 ft above the sea. We had been here before on a trip, and on that occasion we made an interesting excursion into the bush, which is especially fine here. The next day early we railed down to Rotorua and picked up a large open coach and drove to Waiotapu. On the way we stopped at Waimangu. This is supposed to ho the largest geyser in the world, and only broke out some three years ago. The geyser played or “shot” whilst we were there, ami went up some 400 ft —stones, mud. steam. The stones, which are of large and small size, are very hot. and we had to run for our lives. It is impossible to say when the geyser will play, or to what height it will ‘‘shnnf.” The first large photograph, which was taken by Guide Shepherd, shows it up to about 600 ft or 800 ft. Wo were near the little hut on the hill to the right of the geyser: that hut is 200 ft above the base of the geyser. The dark mass is composed of mud ami stones. The hut is not of much use except against small stones. It is a dangerous place if you are too near. In the second large photo you see the geyser steaming, but without eruption. There is nothing like it in New Zealand, and I should think few things equal it in the world. After -pending about five hours hero under the care of Guide Shepherd, we drove on to Waiotapu for the night. T have already described this curious place with its many wonders, and a prison in the vicinity with its 40 prisoners, who are engaged in planting the country round with trees. This place is conducted on different lines from other prisons, the men being given great liberty and freedom. There are no iron bolts or bars, every four men have a little hut to themselves, get the newspapers, some tobacco weekly, and so on. It is an experiment, and it appears to answer very well. The kind treatment has had a beneficial effect and much credit is due to Mr Scanlon for the way in which he carries out his duties both as a gaoler and as a landscape gardener. A new geyser at Wai-o-tapu was christened “Northland” bv Lady Constance. It played to a height of 50ft for aluuit half an hour. The following day we made a new trip. Wai-o-tapu to Rotorua via Wai mangu. Rotoniahana. Ta rawer a. and Wairoa. This trip and the Tasman Glacier are. I think the two best (including also Niagara Falls) that I have ever done. The two are. of course, quite different and cannot l»e compared, but each is wonderful in its own way. The reason we have not done this one before is that “Waimangu” had not broken out. and the shores of Rotomabana were not in nearly so attractive a state as at present. To describe this country properly one has to go back some 1 8 years, when, suddenly, three extinct volcanoes on Mt. Tarawera went off in the middle of the night. Fortunately there were no towns in this part of the country. and only 132 people lost their lives, but the damage done was incalculable. and the ninth wonder of the world was destroyed. This was the famous ••Pink” and “White” Terrace*, situated on each side of Lake Rotomahana. Had the country been as populous, or had a

town been at the base of the mountain, the disasters at Martinique would have been anticipated. These terraces were either blown to pieces or else buried. The “White*’ Terrace the\ think is bur ied. They took ages to iorm, and were formed by the water, containing silica. Mowing from the Im tiling springs above, down to the lake. During the eruption a “rift” or vent or crack o<*curred from Mt. Tara w era to just beyond Waimangu, some 200 ft deep and wide, the whole country was <*overed lor miles around with scoria and mud. in some parts to over 100 ft. and everything was destroyed. The vegetation is now Iwgin ning to grow up again. The view down this “rift" towards Tarawera ami over Lake Rotomahana is very tine, and at the same time very desolate. It is a tine practical lesson on the geological formation of the earth’s crust. .Most of the “rift" is steaming, and one won ders whether it will blow up as one stands in it. listening to steam which makes a deafening noise in many directions. The whole of Lake R« tomahana was blown into the air. ami the present lake is some four times larger than the old one. We walked down through the

• Continued on page 49.)