The Bishop's One Request.

“Just before I boarded the train Bishop Lenihan, the Catholic Bishop of Auckland, came to me and said: ‘I have heard all these kind people asking you not to carry out this foolish and dangerous undertaking, and I have heard your reply. I see that you are quite determined, and so will say nothing.’

“I then asked His Lordship if he wished me to do anything. I asked this question because I could plainly see that he had something on his mind.

“‘Yes,’ said the Bishop. ‘I have read in the Press that you propose crossing the geyser tomorrow afternoon, Sunday.’

“My reply was ‘Yes.’

“I would like you to alter the date to the Monday,’ he said.

“I agreed to do this. The Bishop and I shook hands and I jumped on the train.

“When the train reached Rotorua that evening, many of the local people, who had heard about the page 13 geyser expedition, were on the platform. They only wanted to see the boat. Very few of my friends would speak to me.

“I was now feeling the nervous strain of all this. But I was all the more determined to go through with it. I had said that I would cross the geyser at three o'clock in the afternoon, and I was resolved to do so at the time fixed.

“Before I left Auckland I had sent a telegram to Mr T. E. Donne—now in London—who was the General Manager of the Tourist and Health Resorts Department, telling him that I was going to cross Waimangu in a small boat, and asking him if the Department would pay the cost of taking the boat by rail to Rotorua. I received a reply, ‘Yes.’