TROPICAL "BLOW."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 281, 30 April 1914, Page 7

TROPICAL "BLOW."

j SWEEPS ISLE OF AITUTAKI. LOSS OVER £50,000. Auckland, April 27. An Aitutaki (Cook Islands) correspondent writes:—"The night of January 9, 1!)14. will l)c ever remembered at this island as the date of the se.verest hurricane that has occurred here for the past fifty years. The gale commenced at 7 p.m. on t!ie 9th and was at its height at 3 a.m. on the 10th. At 8 a.m. the wind lulled gradually. Next dnv the weather was normal." The barometer fell from 20.90 to 28.0 at a.m. "The damage done is very difficult to ] estimate. It will bo not less 'hail ■ £ 50.0(H). The orange crop has been totally destroyed. There will be no I export of oranges from Aitutaki for : 1914. There is not a banana tree left I standing. The coeoanuts have stood the | hurricane well; although thousands of trees have gone many thousands still remain standing. Not twenty houses on the island are now intact. Amongst other buildings destroyed are the Government Courthouse and Post Offices, and the trading stores of the Cook Tsland Trading Company, of Messrs. dagger, Hervey, and Miller, and others. The churches of the London Missionary Society at Vaipac and Tautu have been unroofed. The island is now devastated and a sorry plight. "Amongst the buildings which escaped are the Government's new house for the Resident Agent, the wharf cargo sheds, the stores of Messrs. A. B. Donald, A. If. Browne, and W. T. Jewell, all of which remain intact, and little damage was done. The Roman Catholic Church stood strongly and is as good as ever, although the convent buildings of the I Sistpr.s of St. Joseph were levelled to the ! ground. The native houses have been almost totally annihilated; only an odd house here and there remains standing with its roof gone. Luckily no lives were lost, the natives hiding themselves under fallen trees and under the floors of demolished buildings. "During the height of the storm bread fruit (the staple food of the natives) and all similar food products were totally destroyed, and the natives, who are now in a pitiable plight, will have to live on coeoanuts and fish, with what European foodstuffs they may be able to purchase. Rise, biscuits, flour and sugar are being largely competed for, but only small stocks remain in the hands of the traders, and there will be no further supplies until the April steamer arrives. The fallen coeoanuts are being made into copra, in order that provisions may be purchased with the proceeds. ■ "A peculiar feature of the hurricane is the fact that the sea was hot veryheavy and did no damage. Th<! districts of Vaipao, Tautu and Nikaupara suffered very heavily, and not a single house remained roofed.

"The island is now in a chaotic state and everyone is engaged in clearing roads, repairing houses, and generally 'getting rid of the debris."