Reports On Hurricane Worst Damage For 75 Years

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30977, 5 February 1966, Page 3

Reports On Hurricane Worst Damage For 75 Years

(N.Z. Press Association)

WELLINGTON, February 4. The Government is giving urgent consideration to the question of assistance to Western Samoa and the Tokelau Islands, the Prime Minister, Mr Holyoake, said tonight. “It has become clear that the hurricane which struck Western Samoa earlier this week was the most devastating for 75 years,” he said. “The Government is also giving urgent consideration to the question of short and longer-term assistance to both devastated areas, and is confident that it will receive help from C.0.R.5.0. and other voluntary organisations.” Mr Holyoake’s statement came after a report from the New Zealand High Commissioner in Apia, Mr P. G'bites.

The report described the extent of damage by the hurricane in which nine people are reported to have been killed.

Plantations Hit A preliminary survey has shown that the Western Samoan banana plantations have been almost completely wiped out and that it will be a year before breadfruit and banana production can recommence.

A fall to the output of cocnuts by 50 per cent over the next 12 months is also estimated, and it is expected that the March cocoa crop will be a failure, according to the report.

Thirty-five per cent of houses on Western Samoa were damaged by the hurricane and the cost of restoring Government assets—, roads, buildings and communications —is estimated at several hundreds of thousands of pounds. It is estimated that local food supplies can support only about a quarter of the

local population over the next year.

90 Feared Dead

The toll of dead or feared dead in the wake of the hurricane has risen to 90, United Press International reported. All but 11 of the casualties were lost at sea, according to official reports. The latest victims were three Korean tuna fishermen, who were swept off the deck of their ship late yesterday as it searched for 20 other Korean fishermen missing at sea. Still No News

The External Affairs Department—investigating a report that a member of the staff of the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, Mr Ted' Thorpe, is overdue on a sea voyage in the hurricane-hit area—has still received no information.

A spokesman for the department said today that a cable had been sent to Western Samoa for information.

Mr Thorpe is aboard the American ketch “ Marinero,” which was due to dock at Apia early this week. A Royal New Zealand Air Force Sunderland flying-boat was due to take off from Lauthala Bay early this morning to search for the ketch and investigate hurricane damage in the Tokelau Islands.

Mr Thorpe's wife said today in Wainuiomata that she refuses to believe that anything serious has happened to her husband.

“I am not terribly worried at this stage,” she said.

Food For Tokelaus

No further reports were received today by the Island Territories Department on hurricane damage to the Cook Islands and the Tokelaus. A department spokesman said that nothing further is expected from the Cook Islands until the general-report giving a final assessment of the situation.

He confirmed that a Royal New Zealand Air Force Sunderland will take food and medical supplies to the Tokelau group on Monday or Tuesday, depending on when the lagoons are cleared of debris, so the flying-boat can land. Weather conditions on Rarotonga improved considerably this morning after a stonn caused by the hurricane, which by-passed the. island yesterday. No fatalities have been reported.

An all-clear for Rarotonga was received from Nandi, Fiji, yesterday afternoon but the island was advised that strong winds and heavy seas could be expected for the next 24 hours.