LATEST FIJI NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1716, 3 February 1874, Page 2

LATEST FIJI NEWS.

By the arrival of the >.s..Star of tile South at Auckland on the 20th,instiffrbm Levuka, we have been placed in. possession of files of Fijian Gazette and Tirtmto -the 10th instant, from; •' which we splect the following items ?— A iDESTEpOTIVfI OYCHON^r _On the night of Tuesday, the 30th of December,* a gale "raged ' with/great^ se^; verity^ and seems to have doneK more datnage than was at first anticipated, and had it continued and merged, -as was at one-time dreaded;. into a' regular hurrk. cane, the consequences would have' been serious, oviruig to the generally unprepared state in which it , found the town. r ! lt had, been blowing with, more or less violence for-a day or two, bijt on, Tuesday, morning the rapid fall of the barometer, -and the excessively heavy swell that came •thundering on the beach, showed that there really was "something in the wind.": 'Mariy of' the smaller craft weighed a'nohor and ran' down* to Naikbfokoro for shelter. The war schooner Alacrity moved down opposite Vagadace, . and. the Blanche lowered her topgear. By one o'clock it was i blowing very; heavily, and the first disaster occurred, The, Amy, schooner, the property of Mr Simmons, broke her • ■ chain and came on shore, striking, heavily against the piling.on the Levuka side of Totoga bridge, against ;whiqh sh^ continued; to thump with f great violence. Still the wind and sea grew in violence, and at high ! tide 'the : l beabh : from; ; about Mr Morey's 'neivbuildings'tb beyond the Polynesian Hotel was almost impassable, ancle* deep in water, and thefjSea making a clean break over. all. As the tidb /fell, however, this 'abated,, but : the wiiid still raged, and ..about^six^Q!clo.ck reached its' climax. A' little.jafte^Jhat.the welcome news Was J .announced that the barpri'lter had turned, | iaud in the- course, of an,hour an^ft Kalf l it' < went tip to th^-tenths^'The .winc^Jated, .• ! Wi}.JjrjJj ; jli

though still gusty, during the night, but the morning was fair and bright, and only the damage remained to look upon. Scarcely.a ship in harbor but dragged her ,anctfpr|'more or less, the Reconnaisance facing drifted a very considerable distance, and the assistance of the Blanche, and the dropping of the wind, alone saved her,.frQnj. .wjreck. The Wild Wave dragged her anchor, Tina 1 wenT c 6inrßlisfß* ! Bt" i VBgS s ' dace ; bujfcj is ( not much injured. While drifting she fouled the* JNeV YorJcj and capsized.her^doing considerable damage. 'The Ida cutter, wh^.won^n^initßPtSeS on last Saturday,' parted her chain, and drifted out towards, the.reef, and, losing her rudder, became quite unmanageable ; but the change in the direction of the wind brought her back? again, and her: chain caught a .coral rock, and got twistedV.rpfl.nd jt,'\ so , # that : |tjfe morning ■ fourid f ' t her, safely riding^ and having .; austained'- 1 but 'slight injuries. The Alice Rostron dragged and' foiiled the Western Star, losing: her jibboom. The ketch Rosamond; with f ulLcargo of cotton, - wa3 driven, in the neayi9sfcjotthe gale; nearly ,qn the. patfih just^.off the Levuka Reading-room, the stocV jdfher anchor haviugr broken off. '. Eortunftfely, when she was in .'imminent danger' the windjulled,,-, The gale was very heavy off Tovo Peak. , ; { jpL.M.S« 1 Pearr. encountelred it off -Kandavu. It '''&ss. pn^ith'such suddenness and, viblehce,. that 'ssJ lt had. not time •to clue ■ vp t the, topsails,' spn^'e of which were torn:to!Bbre^B.^ v ,on shore the damagie'y»3 "considerable. j !: 4 Jw?ge 'block of buildings; belonging to the Empire,; was lifted out of place, and had to be shored to prevent its walking bodily- into: Totoga Greek ; . the , : residence : of;Mr Hobson was partially, unropfe^d,. .as was also the store lately known as the Levuka Auction Mart; the: verandah; ± of , Dr , , Cruiksha^k's ( house was lifted up, "and bldwU completely over the house, while tibi-tibi ' roora were'sca^ tered iv! every direction /.^ The qffice of4he Fiji Gazltte was bombarded with cocoanuts, and but'' for 'pfomptAaction, would also? havenbeen.) unroofed^ s and., minor casualties without end are chronicled in every, (direction, . The harb'6^ i^hthouses rwere, both b^owii 6ver. "fThe:ligKtfiousekeeper was in the upper 7 one when it was upset, and remained for some time until discovered by natives. The bures d£ J native built houses at iMr Butters' were razed to the ground ; a two-roomed house hear Totoga Square was lifted fbodily'i*ttto the road ; while fences' have been> levelled in all directions, and gardens laid waste. The aneroid stood at three-tenths ., above ninety the worst of the storm. Thene^t morning, however, was ifine^- and- the vigorous .Eipades^. of the. Corporation laborers speedily reduced -the road to its normalatate, and at present but little remains to indicate the visitation of the most violent gale-k'noTsi;here for over two years and a hall./ :> ;/ffiys ■ Adyicesfrom.Koro state f that the ; island is completely devastated by the late 1 gate. Nearly, - L all /they Jhpuses^ have. .bee?i blown down, and ~a very largV number of :? f ruit tree 3 destroyed. A considerable scarcity of food iai, anticipated; in copsequence of this visitation^ : At^Taviuni, the, gale did a good' deal:: of damage. ) Mr. Moore's schooner Alacrity) and, the ; Littl^Totp, cutter, belonging to Mr Tarte, were^pth driyen^from^heir^ioclringS,. and have'not . since , b^n "heard 0f,,- though; search- has been made. M Sayu 'Savu the "Hamate done was 1 excessive^ f In .somo plantatipns, most of .the cptton,,treies wereip'osi^yely blown out of. the ground,, jwhile hardly r a house ou the coast is left standing." '''A number of iaye^beeri kiilea f%y falling, trees,. 'whilst White residents have "suffered 1 great 1 hardships; and 1 privations.. { J The ; bru'iit 1 of '•■gaie'seßtns to haveconie 'from- the northward and eastward, and its violence has been extreme — sheets of iron fbnj the house of Messrs Ashmore and peanejhaving been literally ,torn, .into; strips, . r aXd, *^,c tops ,only of cocoanut trees wrenched 'off; l abs'olut|ly tearing open the trees^rom, top, to bottom. At the above gentleman's 'placed the barometer read^3B<6B^ [Everything seems to^haye been ruined, and the tale of devastation is pitiable. Thfe.^aley'Jiftfter leaving the islands, seems* td'htive forked to the southward,, as, jt was encountered by the Herald^som'^2oo miles to the southward of^e;GrPUp.^ .' : [ GniSaturday, ; abpjut, n^on^ two slight shocks, of earthquake were, felt in Leymca. The motion waa ,'eiceedihgly slightj^nd most persons did not' notice it at all, but toihose' whose ; attention .was attracted to the phenomenon the movement was distinct and unmistakable. The «nly, wonder is that 'with > every, iiace ' of; volcaiiic ,ac Son around the group, and an active jolc^no not very far off, while in exists the largest known, that earthquakes are npVmore frequent. It is reporied-Jrom Raki'Raki 1 that the' earthquake i was; /dis-^ tinctly felt therej.ancUhe shocks seem to have been somewhat )vrolent. The natives there say they" eijenfnoed a similar phenomenori'sorae eight ye^rs agd/.Q,h^Ohat it was followed by a violent KurrioSne. Three' more slight shocks: iwerel feltl on Wednesday ''iiight, or < rather i>Thursday morning at about a quarteripast J3, The Fiji Banking and OommerciakOpmpahy dunfag the paatwe'ek haVebeeh only upbri 'for the' issue cfdriTftjt though in a few* cases they have obliged persoist who .were, leaving Levuka with gold and silver for Treasury notes. The immediate effect oftheTp^sMcTTaMhß^nk is that Gove'mrnent. nbtel have become extremely scarce,. and silver and gold are more plentiful than ( has been the o&|* for many mpnths.-r-A'late issue of the* Qatettc says ;— <f The Fiji Banking and Qommerr oial: Company have .commenced, to issue their^wn notes, which T^m'super^ieae the Treasury issiie. : 'Ttie'tt^ffeVent de. nominations' lire ? as follows :^-Fiye'Bhillings; printed inplain blaok printed in green j LI, in blacky interlined ( with .green.;, and L.o", .in'blue. 'On the back' of each note ' lts 'ValW plainly printed in the Fijianlanguagev't:) iiaii

■ In connection with the Paray-legbfomal pilgrimage- of the, ) A'JS&credj: we (the Book) are^rejninded of the Mahometan/legend, jviiSit tfiat the AngeL.Gabriel had been sent y?ith a pan? o: golden pincers, to ; extract^ the ,heart of Mahomet, burn out;its b'riginaF*Binj f Sna' : restore it to 'Hhepr^pKet's^ijoß^itfpureSand sinless. „, Sixty, feet of a: new chimney shaft 220 feet high, '&' a o cemenVfassry *b *Northfleet,,.fell,theftther/J^jM 1 -a^itf was about to b^"cluistene"a"with s*sni6~ceremoriyj Severi'deathsriccur.retl, and Beveral other persons were injured. Jtye rest of the shaft , was afterwards blown down %'a HoyaiiEnPeett)ffb^Chat. ham.