LIFE ON KERMADECS

Taranaki Daily News, 25 September 1940, Page 2

LIFE ON KERMADECS

^ WINTER HOME OF FLIES There is one person who has discovered where the flies go in the winter time. That is Mr. H. Lukins. Wellington. He does not claim to have indulged in any profound research work in the matter; but he has spent the last 10 months on Sunday or Raoul Island, in the Kermadec Group, as one of a party of public works employees who have t"en making the island a fit and proper spot for- a meteorological station, and that is where the flies were. Words were inadequate, he said. to describe the millions of blowflies which were there and against, which blankets and everything else had to be constantly protected. However, he added. there were no fleas or mosquitoes, although there were millions of wild Italian bees, which, with or without provocation. would "sting like blazes." Taken by and large, Sunday Island was quite a nice place on which to live — when one got used to it. Sunday Island, said Mr. Lukins, was an extinct volcano, Its crater was about two miles in diameter and contained three lakes. The island, about 7000 acres, was very much broken with precipices and ravines. Rainfall was about 60 inches a year. Summer temperatures ranged between 80 and 90 degrees. 1 Passion fruit, bananas, oranges, cape gooseberries and tomatoes grew wild all over the island. Norwegian rats, immigrants from a wrecked ship, overran the island and had ousted the native rat. Cats, too, abounded, having originally been left on the island by.whalers. The cats had so many birds to eat that they hardly tvoubled to catch the rats. The goats still numbered between 1000 and 2000. They played havoc with the vegetation. There were thousands of tuis and many European birds, such as blackbirds, linnets and starlings. Mutton birds had riddled the island with their holes. Godwits, grey duck on the lakes, and birds from the tropics occasionally appeared. One pukeko was seen. Petrels were numerous. A curious feature about the Kermadec petrel was that one lot nested in summer and the other in winter. The eggs provided free and easilyaccessible food for rats, and young birds provided dainty meals for cats and rats, and yet the bird population did not seem to be affected. Fish up to 1801b in weight were caught ofT the rocks. Turtles were also taken. The rock pools teemed with small fish.