SIX LIVES LOST.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 513, 21 May 1909, Page 5

SIX LIVES LOST.

, HUHRICANE AT TH? \SI,AN[>B, ; OKEAT ,I>ESIUIUOTION;- OF PEQP^RSfY, : IBV I'KLEGI;4I'Ii\—SI>EC(4L 'RQIIItBIMNDIKT.I' ;;'-:"' ' . : Auohland,'May 2Q. .■ : 'By ,tho stcanier At.ua. comes-news of .a tervitip..jiUfricanp' at the outlying island-of -ftmatoon,.on the' night of 'April 13, .Captain ;Anderspp (according to a Nukualofa correspondent of tho "Herald")-reports that ho sailed in tho- auxiliary schooner,'Elfriod; ■from: Haahai;for' Njuatopn o,n- the evonjng of tho'l3th, and ho arrived at Njnafqou on the SundayfoUowing. When he climbedtq theytqp'pf the" cliff," ji''sp.eiie of desolation riiet his eyps.. -In,:.tho' chief to.Vn 'pf. Ajgatis,, .whera. tho -principal .stores' aro, tho '.destruction was ;not so complete as .in Spnio flf tho smaller -villages,' which, perched aipng the edge'-.of tho cliffs, were, exposed, to the.' full;■ strength pf the hurricane: • ' y,Thb .stores of the D.H.. aitd P:G.- (kno-vn as;.the German firm) were, not 1 mpch .'dam, aged. -A shed, which contained 20 tons of copra, was. blown bodily, across the road with. jja 'CGflteiita, and ~'a" .'4OQ-gailon;,.' iron j.tonk, full.qf.rain-ivater, yyas blown to a dis- ; tafice -of ?om'e miles, giving a; faint' idea 'of th? ;fprp.q-gf 'the/wind.' 'The buggy-shed and | tho;buggy which.was,in,it,.disappeared, and. : had -nofc'.-heen - found, up/ -t'o , the .'tune that the .Elfried; left; the; island,". .- , Churcjiea Swept Away. ,! ' .Tho .big. churches of, the Free Church andWeslayan': .connexions i were,- swdpt away bodily, .in one case the bell being th,e. oply. thing [left to-mark,the'plaoe where the building !\«1 i.stpod,,-.-• Qnlyythreo ■.'churchpsi.werfe Ipfti svan<|ing,;(u the island, vahd thoy. nro'more PV. less knocked about. ;■-;'.' '' ■';.''. ,;The. pbYornrnent offices -(erected last year) Withstood the force of the blow', triey are. now' being.; used as temporarY dweffln'gplae.es- by'the Civill Servants (all natives)','.vhose. o*n • houses - have' gone in the gqnprai u .v"iolltion of .prqpprty py ftha tempest:; ' v, W/YWage qf'Hafoe, ; whioh' was right' on tne,:sea ; wqrst sufferer,' and thpre.js n?v> hons,e. left standing. It was nere.where;rnpjt pf;the ( deaths.occurred. ■',■' FapitlK'a Awful fete. ; ;-, 'A family of six, four of whpm were! childiwocoupied -ahquse, p,f native, shape, built of ,timber,!, and .rppM'; witp corrugated iron,' ,WSI when;thfthppsp, began fo give/way, thoy. made a.-rqsh, lor the open, and fled for their 'Wte-storni.i The'hur-riV .t.ho b,piid,ng.to pieces, and there 'JS!2-'-*+ : ■¥ - o L t(mb?r an( l. lying iron'.pn 'They were ; a ll killed: -y ; ' ! l'. ''.■'!'''C':'!;'!' TJre ', :!i .'..-•.?y' ; '■"•I n , a - ?a,So;. like this, cpntinued'' thb'-oorre*'-RW-Wt, <t is •difficult, to. estimate damages; Mnn - 9? -? i W ¥ are °2. h !, e *P°<i' reckri.n' thai £th>Ull wiU not cover tho destruction' wrought .by thp.elements.' Three.hundred wd'Wlvo I 'Wtiyp -houses have b.een-, tot'alii 'destroyed', I the, number of. clju.rchesnqt yet: being known! ;fqr certain,: At; present tHere wiU iic,t . actual:wa,nt,_ as.the p,pts that aro.'d6wp wifl ; .bo : -.'outyup .mto-copra, but in": about three months tjme.-vhen this supply is-exhausted, and tliere ore n 0 others pqniing o n,'the na-' tiKgs >Vill b,p. h a rd pressed, and-the Qovernment will probably have to send supplies'pf food,,up fqr them. It w |ll be'aV-lea>V three years the trees bear .properly' 'Mam'. | and,the, ontlook for traders there' is-verv ,'gloomy ; indeed. ; ■ .y.' 'y' v"..'-- >;■• The Force of the Wind.. the, force of. the \yind, !itis told.that an empty 61b. beef tin, evidently picked.up from, the gronnd by tho blast, was earned against the .stem of a coco'anut tree I with the. sharp edgos-where. the lid had been iqut'open.aaainst thotree. -This,has heen driven, so -deeply into the'stem'of the, tree I that two, rnpn cp.uld hot; drag: it out.' ' Where the sheets of corrugated iron hav6'been torn from the roofs and driven along the ground there loft'like: a jaoughed field 'shpw;ng -the.force that:miist have propelled' htJ" 2 no *'°, Captain Anderson's description i , JVmafoou looks now. as if four or five warjphips had laid in the offing and shelled the island for hours." '' '.'.".■'" - -.Tho last tinip tha v the. island had a similar visitation pp.Apri\. 6,. 19.00, but it was no,t-to be compared, with the present one tor-tho a.ihpnnt pf damago done nor tho'numlier of 'lives lost. .The- soili'of Niuafooii "is wonderfully fortile, and the puts there grow to a tremendous size, the copra being tho best that comes from any part of thoTWan or I'nondly group. -■ .'. . "■ °