WRAGGE'S DISCOVERIES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 9184, Issue 9184, 7 April 1910, Page 3

WRAGGE'S DISCOVERIES.

FURTHER EVIDENCE

(Pee Press Association.) AUCKLAND, April 4. Tlie claim made by Mr Clement Wra gge that he has discovered the remains of an ancient city or temple in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands is, he states, supported by further evidence which he has collected as the result of closer investigation. What he has discovered, are in his opinion, not volcanic bombs, but huge blocks standing out of the ground at all angles, up to 10ft high. Some of the stones stand upright, some cant over at an angle of about 45 degrees, and other point nearly horizontally from the slope of the hill, being similar in appcarance to huge cannon on a man-of-war. "What is difficult to account for by natural formation is what Mr Wragge describes to bo a monumental arch with the appearance of the top of a doorway, the spring of the arch being sin or Gin deep and lft 3in thick, and sft long by about Ift lOin across. On the top of one block he found three distinct cups 9in apart, and alongside another three. They are each from 2in to 3in in diameter, and from |in to 1-Jin in depth. On an adjacent stone was another cup 2in to 2in in diameter and about lin deep, and Gin away was a right-angl-ed cross, the main portion being Gin long and the arm 3in each way with one side blurred. Irregular crosses similar to those made by the natives, when they signed the Treaty of Waitangi, were found on other stones. On another stone was a small triangle 2.Tin on one side and 3in on the others, with irregular ridges branching off it in one direction. It was hard to account for all this, he remarked, bv natural agencies. Mr W ragge says that though the rocks are of Plutonic igneous or volcanic formation, the marks are by the hand of man—and his opinion is that what lie has discovered have been caused by early man far anterior to the advent of the Maori. A gully at the bottom of the slope on which he found the immense stones, contains rocks buried in a chaotic mass on every angle, as though some tremendous upheaval had taken place. One huge pillar, lying nearly horizontal, is circular in formation and has a girth measuring 12ft 9in. The portion showing out of the ground is 9ft Sin long and 3ft llin in diameter at the base. There is a cave beneath filled with bones, and broken coffins, probably a recent burial place used by the Maoris. The spot is hidden by thick manuka bush, and Mr Wragge thinks ( the Government should take it over.