19 JUNE 1886, Page 3

A great volcanic eruption in the Northern eland of New

Zealand took place at the beginning of this month, on the borders of Lake Tarawera, between 38° and 39° of Southern latitude, by which whole villages are said to have been destroyed, and many natives have lost their lives. The native settlement of Wairoa was covered with ashes ten feet deep. Some physiographists appear to connect the outbreak of the volcano in New Zealand with the subsidence of the volcanic eruption of Etna ; but if there is really any subterranean flue running all the way from Etna to Tarawera, the earth must be thoroughly riddled indeed. A chimney 8,000 miles in depth is a conception that might almost stimulate the imagination of a chimney-sweep into a sort of enthusiasm for his apparently very artificial, as well as grimy profession. But the coincidence between the subsidence of Etna and the outbreak at Tarawera is, we should think, pure conjecture.