UNUSUAL SIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 53, 31 August 1926, Page 2

UNUSUAL SIGHT

LAKE EUAPEHU FROZEN",

The lake in Mount Euapehu, which >for many years up to 1924 has regularly stood at about 80deg. Fah., and which has risen as high as lOOdeg., has frozen over, and a thick coating of snow covers the ice (says the "Wanganui Chronicle"). On Friday members of the Euapehu Ski Club ascended the mountain and inspected the crater lake, and for the first time since about 1897 they found it to be frozen over. The phenomenon is considered extraordinary in view of the number of years in which the lake was hot enough to bathe in. No scientific data have been compiled relative to the temperature of the lake in Euapehu. Frequent readings were taken by Mr. T. A. Blyth, of Ohakune, who is a constant observer of the mountain and makes frequent ascents, but his instrument was found to be inaccurate and therefore the figures obtained could not be claimed as authoritative.

In 1920 a party, which included Mr. Blyth, went into the lake for their usual bathe after the ascent, and the less experienced of the party wore warned against staying too long in the warm sulphurous water owing to its enervating influence. The heat in the lake had probably reached its maximum in 1922, and Mr, Blyth stated that he had never felt the lake hotter. Since that date, however, the water has been steadily becoming cooler, and now it has not the slightest attraction for bathers.

There is a belief hi some minds that the lake was cold about 1897, and a photograph has been seen by Mr. Blyth which appears to show a surface of ice.

The Wangaehu River rises in the crater lake at Ruapehu, and has been renowned for its mineral qualities.

One amateur gardener in Oamaru has demonstrated what can be done on a

small area in spare time (says an exchange). He has taken over 50 sacks of potatoes off a little over a quarter of an acre, adding no less than £34 to his income. The plot received no more attention that he was able to give in hia spare time.