VOLCANIC ACTIVITY AT TONGARIRO.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 167, 17 July 1888, Page 3

VOLCANIC ACTIVITY AT TONGARIRO.

output of coal has increased from 278,0(0 tons to 534,000 tons ; man';factories have increased in number from 1,600 to 2,200; The value of land, buildings >nd machinery in manufactories has increased from £3,600,000 to £6,000,000; the value ofmanu factur.-d products has riset: to £7,500,000; imports have fallen from £7,400,000 to £6,700,000. Kxports have increased from £6,000,000 to £6,700,000 ; (thus while in 1881 the imports exceeded the exports by £1,400,000, in 1887 they were practically level,) The mileage of railways open and under construction has increased from 1,333 miles to 1,910 miles. The loast ratio of increase in the list here enumerated has been 10 per cent., and in the greater number it ranges from 20 per cent, upwards.

■ -♦- The Cone Intact (FROM taupo correspondent.) Much amusement was occasioned here re cently, by a local in a morning contemporary purporting to be, from a Taupo resident, to the effect that " the cone of Tongariro was being shakendown to some extent, and that a large portion of the summit, estimated to be 2CO feet, had fallen into the crater." The Taupo resident (?) was considerably out in his trinngulations, 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, and this is what he says: "The column of smoke on the 20th of last month was the largest I ever remember to have seen issuing from the crater. It darkened the sky for many miles round here, the sun appealing like a red globe of tire. There were several earth tremors the previous ni»ht, but no violent shakes. I went up to within four miles of the saddle. The immense column of smoke ascending miles into the air, was a wonderful and awe inspiring sight ; the ground was all of a tremor, but no noises came from the volcano There is no alteration at the summit, and no part Of it lias fallen into the crater." On Friday, the 6th inst., at 9.43 a.m.. a sharp shock of earthquake, accompanied with a noise as of a loud explosion, occurred here, coming apparently from a northeasterly direction. On ir.quiriug at the Telegraph Office, we ascertained that it was not felt ab Ohinemutu, nor Napier, and was probably a local one, caused by an incipient outburst of thermal action near Lake Rotokawa. D U REDIN NE.W&. ,- :