NGAURUHOE IN ERUPTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 39, 11 March 1909, Page 2

NGAURUHOE IN ERUPTION.

HEAVY KU-U'JIUNGS AND EXru)SioNs. HlDIi OF C'liATliK IiLOWX AWAY A .UAUXIi'ICKNT SllillX.

By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Wednesday. Tile Star's Tairpo correspondent wire* I that the uruptiun of Hie Mgauriiliue I crater was witnessed with great interest and not a little fear at a distance of live miles hy the passenger* ot an overland eoaeh. About 11 a.m. a huge black column, mixed with steam and asilies, shot skywards, rolling over anil over till it reached the height of about SUUU feet above Hie crater. Soon the already smoky sky was blackened with falling ash and now and again another huge outburst took place ivith an audible roar, scattering th liovcring clouds. Clouds of the most fantastic shapes | drifted to the southeast, as a light northerly wind was blowing, leaving a black train of ashes, which it'll, like ruin, from a high elevation of volcanic cloud, and ever increasing till tlie.v oli- • cured the whole of the southern .sky

iii one black pall. Some tourists who Imd seen Stromholi ii-.id Vesuvius in anion said thai I Ngauruhoc was superior in effect. TJicy were greatly pleased by the majeistic, -sublime grandeur of the cru:>'lion of falling ash turning the .purr white .snows of liuapehu into a dingy dark color, j About 4 o'clock on Tuesday morning the occupants of the half-way house were awakened liy heavy rumblings and explosions. At'll o'eloek, when the upheaval occurred, the western side of the crater .seemed blown clean away. Old resident* say that the outburst is Uic linest. .seen for many years, eve: including the outbreak of 18«!t, whei laval streams poured down the weston I side of the mountain. Wanganui, Wedacsda.v. The effects of the Xgauruhoe eruptio. are being fell at Wanganui, sixty miles distant from the mountain. A thick haze is hanging over the town. The auks distinctly charged with sulphur, while the. country to. the. north is completely hidden iroia sight. The Herald's correspondent at llanga Uiui. on the -Main Trunk line, between Ohaku-.ic and Karioi, wired the following message:—"Volcanic dust still continues and has become heavier. is'gauru hoc in smoking furiously and Wainuirim residents, hud an exciting yinc on -Uo-.i day night, rumbling being very pro Bounced. There are no earth tremors pud apparently no need for alarm, a; Ngauruhoe is evidently acting as a sale ty valve. The country is enveloped « A message from Raetihi states that the place lis not affected. The Herald's correspondent al Waionni telegraphs that Ngauruhoc was in violent erupltei yesterday, throwing ashes and rocks- to a considerate .height, the stones rolling in number, down the mountain side. '1 he eruption is not ipiite .so severe to-day. the io kaaim coach got through yesterday. Wellington. Wednesday. The General l'ost Olliee at 11.80 til's morning received the following message from ,\Vaiouru:-"Xgaui-ulioe is .still in .eruption. No ashes are falling here to-day. The coach got through from Tobaanu yesterday. It is understood that sio damage wax done. i'almerston X., Wednesday. Meets of the volcanic disturbances were felt an the Pohangiua district yesterday, where a thick cloud of pnm'iee dust' descended and converted the •countrv into a grey sheet. Dust > lvi-.i" on verandahs <i quarter ot an ,im-h° thick and the .sulphurous smell in ■the air is making it dilhcult to breathe. The atmosphere is clearer today.

THE VOLCANO VISITED.

A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION,

Wellington, Last Night. The secretary of tlie General Post Office received by telegraph to-day the following report, compiled tor the postmaster at Raurunu, about 22 miles west of Ngaurulioe, by Mr. G. Wilson, Public Works Engineer, who returned from the mountain last Sunday:— " 1 ascended Ngaurulioe on the north side from the base. There appeared to be no unusual sign of activity beyond occasional pull's of vapour emanating from the crater. On reaching the ton, however, it was clearly seen that a fair amount of activity was in progress. The crater is fully twenty-five chains across, and it is divided, roughly speaking, into three compartments. On the south side is a very deep hole, fully live chains across, one hundred feet deep, with perpendicular sides. The bottom was easily visible, and from it were coming strong jets of steam, making a sound the same as a huge waterfall. The sides were also steaming and emitting

STKOXG SULMIUKOUS GASES, which all'ected the throat very perceptibly. Adjacent on the north side is a smaller crater, about fifty feet deep, through which I walked. (Strong fumes were issuing from cracks in the ground, and the bottom was quite hot. t did not think there was anything unusually daugerous in walking about the crater, but subsequently proved that ii was not by any means sale. To the eastward is a Hat open space on a much higher elevation than the ovner division, and covered, generally speaking, with fallen rock and debris. Vapour was being emitted here, also through small iftsures. In fact, broadly speaking, the general crater appears to be alive everywhere. After viewing everything, I climbed out of the crater on the west side, and sat on the edge to take some refreshment prior to descending. Whilst here a peal of confused muttering and rumbling took place deep down in ihe volcano. To this 1 attached no importance, as XTgaurulioc is occasionally noisy, i descended on the west side, leaving the top about hall'-pasl a on .Sunday afternoon. (In .Monday evening, about 5 o'clock, resident.-, in the vicinity of Waiinarino were startled by A LOUD XOISE.

similar to empty water-tanks being drawn over a rough road. This continued for about twenty minutes. X"n uruhoe was invisible at I lie time, being enveloped by smoke caused by a bush lire, in a very short time denso columns of chirk-looking vapour were seen rising in her direction, and then it was plain to all what had occasioned the noise. A big eruption was in progress. As the prevailing wind was coming from the north-west, the deposit of ashes was thickest on the south and east of the cone, and also on the saddle I between her and liuapeliii. The smoke appeared to be going in | UI . direction of W'uiourii. The mountain continued to

I'LAY VKIoIiOUSI.Y for some time, hut as night fell everything became obscured. On Tuesday morning, however, activity commenced with renewed vigour and continued throughout the day. The hot springs at Kelclahi, on Tongariro, and the lake in the crater of liimpehu were very | much disturbed, whilst geysers anil steam jets were sevu playing on the saddle between Huapehii anil Ngaurulioc and well up the Hank of the former mountain. l, v nightfall even-thing was again obscured, and on Wednesday morning nothing was visible. Towards mid-day however, the moirhUiin was still smoking, but was verv muck quieter.''