THE ISLAND HURRICANE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 201, 22 February 1912, Page 5

THE ISLAND HURRICANE.

DISASTROUS RESULTS. TRADE SET BACK FOR TEN YEARS. : l v . . >t By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. ',.\ News brought per s.s. Navua of the ; \ : disastrous results of the hurricane at '. '■ > . Haapai, shows -that the damage done t» < : \i that group is estimated at £50,000. Two' -'. 7. hundred thousand cocoanut trees were i'blown down. In some towns not a.single '.',''"' house is standing. All the churches are ./. '"■;< down, including the Free Church, which -'■ '" cost £2OOO. Traders and storekeepers'{, '}, all suffered severely. i 3' /; Practically every boat in the port was SV / wrecked by a tidal waTe. which drove |- ' a hundred fathoms inland. ~.< • ,', At the town of Leftika widespread - r damage was done, and the are ~ : « face to face with partial starvation,. The 1 '■'' Navua, on' lier return voyage, will take ' ,- large supplies of food. , It is estimated • that trade in the' Haapai- group has-"¥/ sustained a setback from whieh it won't '"' recover for ten years. '' •',;■',

Mr. F. J. Watkins, €ollc«tor of Cus- \'i. Toms in the group, teJls .tlw following story: "For thirteen years 1 h#,ve lived a* Lifuka," he said, "and acver before ? have I known such a sf«rm. Never in the memory of any inhabitant of the " -'' group has there been sueh a terrible

gale, or such frightful havoc caused. The , ~ whole Haapai Group, has beeSi swept «'■ clear. Nearly every house kaa" been demolished, plantations ra*ed to the , ground, boats smashed to pieces, and the town of Lifuka practically swept out of existence by a tidal wave. Thousands of pounds' worth of damage has | been done, and thousands of natives in

the group are faced with starvation, with the result that the Government is sending big commissions to Auckland for food, ■ ,■ corn and seed, so as to prepare for the serious time ahead. Houses .were Washed '.: away, and the doors of the Treasury ■'.* Office were forced open under the weight J of the water, and the place inundated. ' , Houses were collapsing in every direc-'. tion, as if made of cards. The -gale blew ,', at a velocity of 60 mites an hour; It "is * '■,'-! estimated tint 20n.(»O c-ocoanut trees ' * have been blown down in Lifuka itself: '" \\" Over 200 houses have simply disappeared, and in other towns there is not a single;' house left standmg. In Inongone; only three houses remain t» nsnrk the site 'if' ': of what was previously a pretty town. * < ; . Practically the whole of the local flces\ '■* has been demolished, the only boat left , intact and safe at moorings being the ' Auckland-built vessel Kao. The Government yacht Losa was smashed to piecea ;. . and the wreckage was swept right into i >"y' the town. The auxiliary vessel Mileno ' '"i was amongst the other which were smashed up, and there is s«arcely .a. .",- lighter left in the group. The natives'',''., are in a sad plight, as the cocoanut pWsi --V, tations throughout the group have be'eff ' ''i demolished, and starvation faces them. It •' will be years before the cojwa. trade can again be established. The banana crops * ' ' suffered in the gale, and there is hardly -. ' a bread fruit tree left. Over 400 natives , " are homeless." ; „