AN ISLAND HURRICANE.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 July 1922, Page 6

AN ISLAND HURRICANE.

MISSIONARY’S ANXIETY. A TRAIL OF DESOLATION. , - I? By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, July 19. The Rev. R. Godfrey, who arrived by the Mission steamer Southern Cross, described the hurricane of last April as one of the worst which has visited the islands for many years. It struck Banks Island and the Northern Hebrides with terrific force. Starting in the north-east and working right round to the north-west, it left a trail of utter desolation in its wake, demolishing houses and churches, sweeping whole villages out of existence and destroying every vestige of luxuriant vegetation with which the islands were covered.

“We spent several hours in a little hut,” said Mr. Godfrey, “fearing every moment that this last frail shelter would be swept away also. There were moments of great anxiety, yet the sunny child-like naturg of the Melanesian passed through the ordeal quite undaunted. I shall always remember how they laughed as they hung on to the roof, taking every terrific gust as a great joke, but it was no joke for the Mission or missionaries. When we ventured out later in the day, the whole scene in the valley of Sea Cliff Bay, on the Island of Raga. where I was stationed, looked just, like a piece of New Zealand bush country after a fire had passed through it. Not a stick nor a tree was standing. The roof wasi carried clean off my house, and the walls and ceiling lay in heaps on the ground. •

“The floor was smashed in and the house itself pushed over several feet on its foundations. No fewer than 44 native churches were destroyed in Raga. and eight in Aoba. Of the 20 new churches built last year only three were left standing.”