EXTRAORDINARY PHENOMENON.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVII, Issue 4179, 5 January 1871, Page 2

EXTRAORDINARY PHENOMENON.

A. gentleman who came up last evening from the Thames tells us of <m sxtrao'rdinaryappearance in the sky on Sunday rngkfc last Our informant says:— "At about haJf-paafc eight o'clock I was walking on the beach at tshortland, when my attention was attracted by an extraordinary appearance in the western sky. The night was cloudy, and the moon was partly obscured by lowering scud. The appearance to which I allude I can only compare to a bar oi heated iron, wedgeshaped, and which to the eye appeared some. 15 feet in length, and varying from 18 inches at its base to some 3 or 4 inches at its point. Of course I only mention its size as it would, appear to an unscientific gazer. This strange meteor traversed the heavens from north tosouth, at an angle of about 45deg. from. Wharekawa, near Sandspit Passage, until it sank from view apparently a Bhort distance beyond the telegraph turrets at the. mouth «f the Piako. To carry out mysimile of a bar of iron, I must state that afc its base it appeared 'red-hot,' and thitf. colour gradually darkened towards the poij>.t to the colour observable in a bar of iron wne end of which has been immersed in water. It occupied about half a minute in its tra.l7.3it, and, whilst passing along, its appearance, as it occasionally buried itself in the dim tra nspa* rency of dark cloada, and anon re-apr jeared in. bold relief against the patches of cleare ar sky, was magjuticent in the extreme. "Immediately or\ its disappearance, the ylonda which ha«i hitherto obscured the sky cleared away, and the moon shone forth in double brilliancy. The strange sight was witnessed by many who were taking their after-church, walk at the time, and gave rise to expressions of wonder and amazement. The natives at once alleged that such an appearance was a sure indication of approaching war ; and those who had not seen it anxiously inquired the direction in which the meteor had disappeared. On being informed that if; had gone in the direction of the Piako, they said it was a sure precursor of war in the Waikato. The spot where it disappeared from view was in the swampy ground between the Piako river and the main land at the Miranda, so that it would be a matter of impossibility to find it, even if the spot where it fell could lie mscovered, owing to the swampy nature of the ground."

Unreliable reports are current respecting dissensions in the English. Cabinet relative ttvo v Rtunia.