THE NEW GUINEA CYCLONE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 30, 6 February 1899, Page 6

THE NEW GUINEA CYCLONE.

The Wesleyan Mission at New Guinea seems to have suffered little, if any, less than the Anglican Mission by the recent disastrous cyclone which struck the group. Particulars to hand from the Rev. W. E. Bromilow. superintendent of the mission, at Dobu, speak of much damage being done, and many lives being lost. Writing to the Rev. Dr. Brown, general missionary secretary, Mr Bromilow states that an Inspection after the hurricane had spent its fury revealed trees and houses blown down in all directions. The rain poured down like a flood toward the sea, which, in its turn, washed over the bank until the water was knee-deep all over the lower parts of the station. Women, children, and babies crowded into the mission house. The Victoria, which it was feared had been lost, escaped narrowly. . She went ashore, but was floated off without damage. The two mission whaleboats and the Waverley were lost, but* the crews' managed to swim ashore on their oars. The extraordinary rainfall brought down on the village an avalanche of tree 3, earth and water, and 12 people were crushed to death. In other places death occurred through trees falling, and there was great mourning. One village was almost entirely ruined, and presented a sad spectacle. The churches at Numanuma, Dede, and Buatoaia were blown down, and the teacher's houses were more or less damaged. The mission schooner Dove was anchored in a sheltered nook near Samara!, and turned up safely. The captain reported that the southern end of Normanby looked as if it had been burned up. 'The whole damage,' Mr Bromilow concludes, 'cannot yet be summed up, but the universal testimony is that there will be great suffering in this group. We hope to be able to help the needy, and pray God to send the means.'

Take in Sporting