NGAURUHOE ACTIVE

Hokitika Guardian, 25 May 1926, Page 4

NGAURUHOE ACTIVE

IM PRESSIVE SPECTACLE. AUCKLAND, May 22 The volcanic action of Mount Xgauruhoe is marked by) a certain degree of regularity, according to tbe observations cf Mi - C. P. Worley who s;:ent this week at Tongariro National Park with a party of Mount Albert Grammar School boys. Air Worley says Ngaurulioe’s action is like that of a gigantic forge. It is as if some subterranean Andean operate? the bellows and fiends a breath of life through a banked fire. A red-hot funnel is bored up through tbe lire bed and fiery aslses and smoke and dust are blown high into the air. Then y.ukan take liis hand from the bellows, the crater falls in, and tlie banked forge smokes' sulkily, until the bellows are again applied. That is a fanciful image, hut it applies almost exactly to tlie action of Ngauruhoe as described by Air Worley, if the scale be taken as several thousand times larger. Air Worley and his boys had four beautifully clear days and nights to observe tbe mountain, and on one occasion they even ascended part of the final cone. It was a remarkable occasion for all concerned, and every, one of. the party was keen to study, the habits of the smoke-crested monster raising its bead so high above the land. Alost of tbe time tbe mountain is quiescent, but about once every hour, according to Air AVorley’s observation, the hidden band is on tbe bellows and elemental forces are unloosed. Generally there are three gigantic explosions or .shots at short intervals up to five minutes. Sometimes there are as many as seven shots at these periods of activity. The explosions are marked by quantities of red-liot rocks of great si/e, which are shot hundreds of feet into tlie air. These roelts c:hi he singled out even at ,a distance of six miles, and by a rough calculation Air Worley estimated that some of them would be the size of a small house. Along with them the crater emits volumes of steam massed with fine dust, which blows off with a great roaring noise. Three of those shots generally follow each other in quick succession, then it is as if tbe crater eaves in upon itself and the subterranean fires are banked. A quiet period of about an hour supervenes, while a dense pall of blac-k smoke from the crater spreads its sinister shadow. Then tbe band is again at the bellows, the vent is blown clear, the shots recommence and the whole process goes full wheel again.

At night the spectacle was a glorious one, so much so, in fact, that Air Worley says some of his boys could not tear, themselves away from it, but 'remained outdoors in tbe clear, frosty night until they caught colds for their Tains. A succession of shots would throw masses of red-hot material thousands of feet into the air, and on their descent they shattered into a glowing red carpet covering the slopes, sometimes for more than half-way down tlie mountain. Extensive masses of this ejected spoil collected in one deep valley, and as they rulled down it gave the appearance of a lava flow. Although Air Worley said no actual lava was emitted, some of the mater ial. was semi-molten. This oh landing broke up into thousands of pieces.

Mr Worley and some of the boys chose a quiet hour last Tuesday to 'climb a short distance up tlie final cone, but it was not considered isafe to proceed too far. As showing how far boulders are thrown the party came on a lot of newly-ejected cinders on the adjoining peak, Tama. There, still fresh and dry, were the shattered remains ol great boulders reduced by their fall to fragments the size of peas. A tremendous shot was fired by Ngauruhoe when the party was in Rift Valley, close, to the final cone. One enormous boulder' was shot more than half-way down the mountain, leaving a long dark smoking trail behind it,* The parly of twenty-five schoolboys, with two masters, stayed at'Whaknpapa Huts, six miles from the volcanic cone, but even there they wore perlorce mindful of its presence owing to the rattling of window panes during the explosions.