DREADFUL HURRICANE.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 402, 25 April 1871, Page 2

DREADFUL HURRICANE.

WBECK OF THB ZEPHYR AND

KESTREL.

[FRCOr THE "FIJI TIJIBS," MARCH 25.]

Now (lint the hurricane is over, we, are in a position to chronicle (ho disasters which it has occasioned. To an observer Levuka presents the appearance of a, town over which a destroying angel might have passed, leaving desolation in his (rack. Trees have been thrown down by the force of (ho gale, those which arejeft standing are bereft of their foliage, and seem ghastly sentenels over a widespread ruin. Commencing in our narration of the ruin wrought, we take as first in the list Dr. Brower's dwelling-house. Here the wind bus torn the verandah away, and the roof ha 3 only a few sheets of iron loft upon it. Some of the iron has been carried by the force of the wind down on to the beach below, w!;ero the pieces lie scattered about. The flagstaff 100 has bowed bolero the tempest ; whilst (he building which the doctor was having ereotud has disappeared, leaving only the sleepers to murk its bite. Coming from there we notice with pleasure that the ginirng establishment of Messrs. J. C. Smith ond Co. lias braved the tempest, not having received any injury. Leaving that, we nofice some Fiji houses, most of which have suli'ered more or'ltss. But we pass them and the Roman Catholic church, and manse, neither of which have fortunately received any injury, and then on to Totoga town, which Ims escaped wonderfully. Some of the natives' bouses have received a peculiar twisi, and others have had their roofs badly injured, but not a single house has been thrown down. The greatest damage the town has received, is the overthrow of its fightingt'enee, which is as effectually demolished as if the Lovoni men had trampled it under their feet.

But we retrace our steps to the bench, and go along past some cottages which have remained comparatively tin injured, and past the stores of Messrs. F. and SV. llennings, which, owing to timely precaution, present their old well-to-do appearance ; and pause at the jetty. Here Ifarman's boat, came ashore, dragging her anchor, and after carrying away part of the wharf, went to pieces on the beach.

But when we leave here the rond gets rough and broken, for 1 lie surf has heaped up pebbles and refuse from the harbour right up to the buildings, and on to the verandah, nil the way from here to the posl.>o(Tice. The houses from here to Totoga Creek have suffered slightly, but all have stood it, well.

]n our journoyings we now reach Messrs. Burl and Son's utoro, par!, of wliich has been carried away, exposing the goods to the weather ; they estimate their loss at not les3 than £200.

We next come lo the British Consulate, which iuia sustained some considerable damage to its roof. The next place which suffered is Mr. Cudlip's back store. It has been thrown down, and the loss thus caused is fully £900. Next is the reading room, which lias suffered severely. The roof has been torn olf, and the whole building has quite a dilapidated ap pearance. Dr. Rylcy has sustained considerable damage by having his window panes blown in, and the rain damaging his stock.

Mr. Turner is the greatest sufferer by the hurricane. The roof over the dining and sleeping rooms has been carried away ; but over the billiard-room the bar, and the adjoining rooms, fortunately the roof lvmaincd. The new theatre also, in course of erection, and some nat ive houses at the back, have been thrown down ; and the loss is a very heavy one — Mr. Turner estimates it at £500. This, if anything, is under the mark.

But. Liits is tbo limit of our survey; nnd we next directed our steps to the hill at the back of Levnka, where Mr. Burt's house lias been divested of its verandah, and Mrs. Fitzgibbon's has received some damage to its roof. 'i'lio Wesleyan Mission-house Ims been severely tried, having lost nearly all the zinc from the roof. Coining down the hill there is a cottage lately erected by Mr. Morey, and standing at the buck of the Criterion, which has lost every vestige of a roof. Next passing the now Wesleyan Church, going along the back road towards Tologa Creek, we notice some Fiji houses which have been blown down. A little way beyond them, and situated nearly opposite Mr. Swarm's, is where the Church of England building for a church was being erected, but the frame has been thrown down. This is nearly a complete list of the damage which has been done ; but there are innumerable inconveniences which arise from the destruction of fences and outbuildings, and from the leakage of roofs, which we cannot particularise, whilst gardens have been entirely decimated. The appearance of Hie vegetation is almost as if a fire had raged, and for many a day the trees will hung out as dismal mementoes of this visitation, withered leaves and broken limbs, and the ground, which once was covered with luxuriant and rank vegetation, presents the appearance as if it had been mowed. To estimate the amount of the damage is an impossibility, but it cannot bo far short of £2000. But now the hurricane lias passed, pcoplo are bestirring themselves to restore the ruins left, and in two or three ; weeks there will be very few signs of its ravuges, save in the vegetation. Everywhere the sound of the saw and the hammar tells that the carpenters are at work repairing the damages. But whilst the " destroyer " was making all these ravages upon the land, his "path was also in the flood," and some damage was done amongst THE SHIPPING-. As wo recorded in our laßt, the Zephyr, schooner, went ashore on Levuka Point, but the captain is confident he can get her off without much difficulty, when he will take her to New Caledonia lor repairs. One of her owners is in that island, the other is with the vessel. She is not insured.

The brig Kestrel parted her small chain on Monday night, and was washed ashoro on the point nearly i n f^nt o f D r , Brower's resi-

dence, where she now lies. From what we can learn, she is badly stove, but it is difficult to tell the extent of her damage. A survey is, however, to be held, when we will be able to state definitely the extent of her injuries. She had also come close in shore for the purpose of landing stock.

Besides these disasters, the Black Eagle, schooner, was thrown up in front of the British Consulate, with the loss of her rudder. The Telegraph, schooner, was also thrown up in the same place, but uninjured. Both these craft were about six tons burthen. The steamship Wainui steamed to her anchors whilst the hurricane lasted, but by collision lost ber mizen boom. The other vessels which vreje riding in the harbour at the time were the Sprinkbok and Meteor, barques, the latter with lowered topmast; the Sarah Fife, Margaret Chessel, and * Marion Kenny, schooners. Tho holding ground could not be better, mid if a ship's gear is what it ought to be, she could here ride out the heaviest wind that blows. From the KA COAST. We learn that the hurricane was very destructive. In the district of Tavua it unroofed most of the houses, whilst the cotton has been thrown down, but, we believe, not destroyed. A native town on the coast there was partly washed and partly blown away. There was a remarkably high tide, the water rising some three feet above the highest ever known there before. Our informant of these ravages states that on his journey down he noticed a schooner which ho supposes to be the Dantzic, thrown upon the coast this fide of Viti Levu Bay; and also some pieces of wreck. At the back of OVALAU. Captain Bafeman informs us that the wind was very severe, unroofing his house ; and that the water rose very high, carrying the ketch T.ienl;, which he had beached, some distance further up the beach, at the cost of a lot of her copper and one of her masts, which was blown out of her. He informs us that his barometer read 29.10. He has not seen it lower thau 29.4 ! in Fiji until this year.