Surveys shown 14ft of debris over the site where the men's quarters stood, 7½ft over the manager's hut, and 4½ ft over the cooking hours.
A hole was dug down through the hot mud and boulders near the site of the men's quarters.
This reached what had previously been the surface, but nothing connected with the missing men was found.
It would appear that the eruption did not occur directly underneath where the structures stood, but probably from somewhere near the centre of the sulphur lake.
There seems to be only one conclusion, that the whole party perished, and were either carried or thrown out to sea.
Debris 20ft deep now covers the position where the lake was.
The large vent or blow-hole is situated here, and is extremely active. Bluish flames can be seen and almost pure sulphur is being deposited round the sides.
Loud detonations are frequent. Careful investigations were made of the shores and beaches, but failed to discover any of the missing men.
• The Patriotic Sports meeting, held on the Caledonian Ground on Saturday under the auspices and management of the Otago Centre of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association, proved a thorough success.
The weather was everything that could be desired; in fact, it was so beautifully calm and sunny that it probably had the effect of tempting many to seek other methods of passing the Saturday afternoon than attending the sports.
There was, however, a prodigious crowd present, juveniles with good strong lungs and plenty of enthusiasm being well represented.
School bands were numerous, and pretty well all of them had a musical march round the ground at one time or other during the afternoon, and never failed to evoke warm applause from the spectators.
The Kaikorai, St Kilda, and Caversham Bands were also in attendance, and played selections, so that the afternoon's proceedings were rendered somewhat military in colour, which was as it should be, seeing that the sports were promoted to raise money to increase the Patriotic Relief Fund.
The object was successfully attained, as 84 was taken at the gates, fully 60 worth of tickets had been previously sold, there was 20 taken in the tea-rooms on the ground, and there are tickets, etc, yet to be accounted for.
It may be safely estimated that very close on £200 will be realised as a result of the effort.
• Some months ago the collection of Maori objects in the Otago University Museum was enriched by an interesting series of implements made from bone and stone, generously lent by Mr H. D. Skinner.
All these bone articles have been collected by Mr Skinner in the neighbourhood of Dunedin, and indicate the abundance of Maori things still to be found in the kitchen middens along the sea coast.
Here, in a special case, may be seen bone fishhooks of various patterns, and in various stages of manufacture, showing the ingenious manner in which the Maori cut them out of the bone.
There are also bone mat-pins and combs, as well as gouges and awls and other implements used in their manufacture, stone saws and chisels used for carving wood, and a number of other objects. - ODT, 15.10.1914.
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
