These tensions coalesced in June 1886 when the largest volcanic event in modern New Zealand history occurred at Mount Tarawera, 24 kilometres south east of Rotorua in the North Island. Following the eruption, the government commissioned Hector to provide a scientific report on the occurrence and its consequences. Undertaking a fleeting visit around the site he produced a report arguing that the eruption was, essentially, non-volcanic and of little scientific interest. As R F Keam remarks, 'No geologist today would accept Hector's model of the occurrence' and, even then, the deficiencies of the Hector report aroused criticism. In an effort to defuse the matter William Lanarch, the minister of mines, commissioned Hutton, Thomas and Brown to further report on the eruption. While Hutton evinced a degree of impatience in promulgating his opinion, Thomas was more circumspect and thorough in his fieldwork and his report, published two years later and separately from that of Hutton, was, in Keam's opinion, 'the polished product of meticulous research'; he further notes that 'Thomas would have been glad that he had distanced himself from Hutton's ideas on the matter'.