VOLCANIC ACTIVITY AT TONGARIRO.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 283, 21 July 1888, Page 4

VOLCANIC ACTIVITY AT TONGARIRO.

I Mrcu amusement was occasioned heie recently, by a local in a morning contemporary purporting to be from a Taupo resident, to the effect that " the cone of Ton- ; gariro was being shakendown to some exj tent, and that a large portion of the bummifc, estimated to "be 2CO feet, had fallen ' into the crater." The Taupo resident (?) was considerably out in his triangulations, or levels, for on a clear day the cone can be seen from here, its sugar-loaf proportions as perfectly symmetrical as usual, and the summit as high as ever. To make doubly sure, we communicated with guide Gray, who lives- right at the foot of the volcano, andthis is what he says: "The column of smoke on tho 20th of last month was the largest I ever remember to have seen issuing from the crater. Ifc darkened the sky for many miles round here, the sun appealing like a red globe of five. There were several earth tremors the previous night, but no violent shakes. I went up to within four miles of the saddle. Tho immense column of smoke ascending miles fcinto the air, was a wonderful and awe-in-spiring sight ; the gtound was all of a tremor, but no noises came from the volcano. There is no alteration at the summit, and no part of it has fallen into the crater." On Friday, the 6th insfc., at 9.43 a.m., a sharp shook of earthquake, accompanied with a noise as of aloud explosion, occurred here, coming apparently from a northeasterly direction. On inquiriug at tho Telegraph Office, we ascertained that it was not felt at Ohinemutu, nor Napier, and was probably a local one, caused by an incipient outburst of thermal action near Lake Rotokawa.