HURRICANE AT THE ISLANDS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 99, 24 May 1909, Page 4

HURRICANE AT THE ISLANDS

GREAT DESTRUCTIOX OF PROPERTY By the steamer Atua comes news of a terrific hurricane at the outlying island of Xinafoon, on the night of 13tU April. Captain Anderson (according to a Nukualofa correspondent of the Auckland Herald) reports that he saih-'d iu the auxiliary schooner Elfried from Haahai lor Xiuatoon on the evening of the IStli, and 'he arrived at Xiuafoou on the Sunday following. When he landed and climbed to the top of the cliff, a scene of desolation met his eyes. In the chief town of Agata, where the .principal stores are, the destruction was not so complete as in some-of the smaller villages, which, perched along the edge or the cliffs, were exposed to the full strength of the 'hurricane. The stores of the D.H. a|id P.G. (known as the German firm) were not much damaged. A shed which contained •20 tons of copra was blown bodily across the road with its content*, and a 400gallon iron tank full of rain-water was blown to a distance of some miles, giving a faint idea of the force of the wind. The "buggy-shed and the buggy which was in it disappeared, and 'had not been louud up to the time that the Elfried left the island. CHURCHES SWEPT AWAY.

The big churches of the Free Church and Wesieyan connexions were Swept away bodily, in one ease the bell being the only thing left to mark the place where the building had stood. Only three churches were left standing in the island,, and they are more or lessknocked about. ' The Government offices (erected last year) withstood the force of the blow, and they are now being used as temporary dwelling-places by the Civil Servants (all natives), whose own houses ■ have gone in the general demolition of property by the tempest. The village of Hafoc, which was right on the sea coast, was tlie worst sufferer, and there is not a house left standing. " It was here where most of the deaths Occurrred. A FAMILY'S AWFUL FATE. A family of six, four of whom were children, occupied a house, of native shape, built of timber -and roofed with corrugated iron, and when the house began to give way th«y made a rush for the open, and lied for their lives before the howling storm. The hurricane blew the building to pieces, and there was' a hail of timber and flying iron on their - track. They were all killed. THE DAMAGE.

t In a ease like this, continued the corrt- ; apondent, it is difficult to estimate aaniI", but those who are on the spot reckon that £ BSOO will not cover the destruction wrought by the elements. Three hundred and twelve native houses have been totally destroyed, the number of churches not yet be"ing known for certain. At present there will not be an.\ actual want, as the nuts that are /down will be cut up into copra, but In about three months' time, when this supply is exhausted and there are' vo others coming on, the natives will be hard pressed, and the Government will probably have to send supplies of food up for them. It will be at least three - years before the trees bear properly! \ again, and the outlook for traders there is very gloomy, indeed, ; THE FORCE OF THE WIND. • _To illustrate the force of the wind it is told <that an empty Gib .beef tin, cvi- - dently picked up from the ground by the blast, was carried against the stem , of a eocoamit tree with the sharp edges where the lid had been cut open against the tne. This had been driven so deeply into the stem of the tree that two men tnuhl not drag it out. Where the sheets . of corrugated iron have been torn from the roofs and driven along the "round .» there are furrows left like a plo.iohed t Held -bowing the force that must have ✓ propelled theui. Vo quote Captain Anderson's desert v tion- •Xiuafooii looks now as if four or * file warships had laid in the offing and , *sliellcd the island for hours.'' 1 The Ja«t time that the island had t ~ similar visitation was on <Jth April. IdOO. k >ut it wan not to lie compared with the ■ , present one for the amount of damage s, done nor the number of lives lost. The .', soil of Niuafoou is wonderfully fertile. . and the nuts there grow to a tremendous i size, the copra being the best that comes - from any part of the Tongan or Friendly