UNWONTED SIGHT ON RUAPEHU.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 988, 1 December 1910, Page 4

UNWONTED SIGHT ON RUAPEHU.

IS IT ACTIVE TOO? (By TeleEraph.—Special Correspondent.! Auckland, November 30. ■ News comes from Wairau indicating further activity in the great volcanic mountains there, but, this time, it is Ruapehu, not Ngauruhoe, that is alleged to bo showing signs of energy. Tho recent performances of Ngauruhoe. have tended to concentrate all attention upon that sharp smoking cone, but the latest news indicates that its massivo manypeaked, neighbour is also capable of more activity than has been suspected. On Sunday, when the thunderstorm and rain fell here, heavy rain clouds also obscured the two great mountains. On Monday, the clouds on Ruapehu's summit lifted, and it was seen, from Waiouru that a dirty discolouration had overspread the snow on the upper eastern slope. This dark pall upon the white snow mantle must be, it is assumed, ejected material, and it could not have been thrown out from Ngauruhoe because tho wind has not been blowing in a direction that would carry Ngauruhoe's ejecta to'Ruapehu. The discolouration seen on lionday would probably have been greater had not much of the material (which is apparently a dark ash or sand) been washed away by the rains. A drover from Tokaanu to Waiouru reports a'more marked discolouration of tho snow on Ruapehu as viewed from the Ten Mile Peg. One peak which is discoloured is estimated to be 500 feet above the level of tho hot lake in the old crater on Ruapehu. If, as is assumed, the ejecta came from tho crater lake the shot must have been a powerful one.