The Hurricane in Fiji.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 210, 6 March 1895, Page 2

The Hurricane in Fiji.

«. An appeal is being made in Auckland for aid to those who suffered by the recent hurricane in Fiji. The Rev. H. Worrall, of Rewa, writes :— " During the Sunday night the south wind sent a tidal wave through many of the towns for many miles up tho river. Now there are 150 houses down. The unfortunate people had in some places to swim for their lives. Several were killed and some children drowned. The food plantations are utterly ruined. Forests of breadfruit, chestnut and cocoanut trees are down everywhere. It is heart-break-ing to walk through Rewa and see the ruin and desolation of the place. Scores of churches and teachers' houses have fallen. Suva is almost entirely wrecked. Our Jubilee Church ia flattened to the earth, and also the Presbyterian Church and the Polynesian Church. The Church of England is very much damaged. The Roman Catholic Church has come off best, but it occupies a very sheltered position. Our Churou is not seriously injured here. The most dreadful thing of all is to know that the worst is still to come — viz, poverty and starvation. How the unfortunate people aye to keep body and soul together is a mystery. Hundreds are now eating food unfit for human consumption, so we may expect an epidemic of dysentery. Try to beg some medicine somewhere. All the day long I have been busy attending sick people, and my medicines are giving out."