THE PINK AND WHITE TERRACES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2742, 22 February 1910, Page 3

THE PINK AND WHITE TERRACES.

A NEW PROJECT

rPnu Piikss Association.'! ROTORUA, Feb. 21. A project that lias been mooted more than once before is being seriously discussed again, namely, the possibility of recovering • the famous .terraces at Rotomahana. Guide Warbriek stoutly maintains they were never destroyed, but simply buried, basing bis belief on the fact that he has searched the whole of the ground in the neighborhood of the lake and river, and has not found'' a fragment of terrace formation since the eruption in June, 1886. Rotomahana has filled up to .nearly twenty times its original size, and is now more than 100 ft above its former level. There is no outlet, and it is still rising. Another 25ft will cause it to overflew into its. old channel, .which would soon be scoured out. Tire idea is to hasten this process, giving it a- start by making a cut. , The topmost layer of terraces was originally 70 or SOit above water, and it is therefore now submerged 20 to 30ft. Above this is a deposit of mud, but this, it is believed, could ,be shovelled or washed into the lake with no great labor. If terraces still exist, the lowering of the water, it i.s fondly hoped, will bring them to light again. On the other hand, one authority at least •believes that if not destroyed in the eruption, the sceam confined below will by this time have converted the sih'cious formation .into .pulp, and have destroyed the beautiful contours of these famous beauty spots. Believer’s in their existence controvert this theory, and contend that the formation was much too hard to bo "injured by steam.