NCAURUHOE IN ERUPTION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 490, 24 April 1909, Page 10

NCAURUHOE IN ERUPTION.

Sir,—l read in. The of April 21 y ; ; . «n account of,, the continued eruptions of , . ■ Ngauruhoo.during-the past few weeks, and : also the report in which Mr. Speight, F.G.S. of Canterburyj College, says that lava. issued ;: from the crater as date probably as-1860. .... I was in Wanganui in the,summer of 1869 :and witnessed - several ,of., the', long-oon.tinued, iy eruptions'^of;that 1 year "from ,a:;Yery.'favour- : : ablo standpoint . on,ithe, hills on itho -.south ; > side of tho Wanganui, River. : Several- of-the party of whom . I formed ono -. are still <aliv.o ./'^nd'-ivellj.fit:was,customary for us;to gather . on suitable nights at the Rutland Hotel, in tho Avenue, and proceed by the Wanganui .: j Bridge, then in course of", erection by the late .Mr. Hugh M'Neil,' and. climb by tho ■■;■■■■ then called No. 2 -and No; 3 • lines • to ■ the '. plateau on top of ..the bills; ■ from which, i. neros3_tho northern uhouldor of Ruapehu, a , fair view could be: obtained of Ngauruhoe. v,ln; the'; daytime. from, that;, "position.'smoke, iould be seen, atid x- rumblings • ; somotimes ; grand-electrical ; dis-. : charges' going up many thousands of feet : ;: : rmto;;the '; A.t times: , in tho.. stillness the reverberations following l .groat eruptions reached us. Previous to that time tbo war with tho- Maoris . had been •, «orere. • i Tho :iipper..reaches of ;■ the -Wanganui ■■■:'Hirer were entirely in the hands of tho . Natives,.'; who : ..were .. camped iiri':.'. very.,j-largo" ; . ' numbers , along the banks 'of - tho . river,. and whose large canoos. were always coming and : going to. the town. :Noiv . concerning earthquakes, about 'which fall-the.agesbast'aiid , present have found nof solution, jberhaps .'the. keen' observations: of' the ;' Maoris ' during generations are as good as-any—others-.—*l- - will therefore relate "them, as; told to -mo by. . the'.old: rangatira's -aiid ' chiefs of f that''Ttirrfcj; : and as vouchcd for by my fnend tlio 'iate. , , . Major Kemp; and also confirmed by tho late • Sir Walter, Bullerj then Resident Magistrate of .Wanganui; ; They;i stated ..that fit , was '.' a' , goad sign when thict.smoke,was'seen issuing from. Xgauruhoo' and Tongariro, tfikrthat when there was no smoke for. a long"time the great carthquakos came.f During -the summer -of 1868 very 'largo " quantities .of - pumice stone car.io down the Wanganui and, ..'■Wangaehu','Rivers. ..The' oniptions.'heard * by' us in 1809 woro simply as "a. crackor to a :j, cannon shot-for' riciisiS .;<om]Sar&l .fo ijiher 'great-* eruption; twenty : two c or twentyithreirf years ; ; V ago. when tho pink and white terraces,..were ?^-^dostroyedi;:.^dv.tK^j^Wt?iiraiMSMTifeljind : them shattered and bilhdns. of r -totfs -'of d«bris thrown,, it .is said,i from;two tothreefmiles •.'//•into'!'the;'sky,; covering . Hundreds fof, fsquare miles, and. covering the decks of vessols m : the Bay of .Plenty; i Tho 'late Mr; 'Andrew; Reeves, the earliest sheep-farmer m' •. Bay, ..informed mo. that ,thero-M,was v.-partial darkness in. Gi3bornc, and total-darkness-'lin-

Tologa :Bay, the day following the eruption,, . caused : by tho: large :i "quantity of matter thrown into tho air cbscuriiigv.tho-.sun/--At my.'place:..ia :Hsy,--Street,'. .Oriental Bayf ■£; heard ld<id-, banging 'in :'tho ; .fligh*t,-,anii thought .! • tho door of my trapj'shed-.must - : when I wont down to ic I :found »it locked-"; The long, loud ropOrts continued at .intervals ■ ' . durmg tlio niglit. banishing -slc«p.;:;;Later' '.Vo' ;■■J^^■ : bMrd'/thatVat.' , Blenh€im'■ :^t'•was^tho^lgS^^'^aat■, • ' 8 Y essel ' n tho Straits must be in distress -arid firing guns,; and even at. Kaikoura the noise- . of tho, eruptions was quit<j distinct. : Tho ; Maoris say that sinoko_ was absent from < Ngauruhoe and Tongariro previous to this appalling outbreak.—l am, etc., - JAMES M'DOTVELL April 22.