AN ISLAND CRUISE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 210, 5 September 1899, Page 5

AN ISLAND CRUISE.

DROUGHT AT THE GILBERT

GROUP.

DISTRESS AMONG THE NATIVES.

The John Williams, the smart-look-ing yacht of the London Missionary Society, which was built to replac^ . ■ the sailing vessel of that name-to carry the flag of the "Messenger of </ Peace" among the South Sea Islands, returned to Sydney on the 26th inst., after an extended cruise through the Pacifis. The trip embraced visits, to .; the society's mission.stations at Niue, or Savage Island, the Cook Group, the : outlying stations on Penrhyn, Rakahanga, Manahiki and Danger /Islands, and also the Samoan, Tokelau, Ellice and Gilbert Groups. * Altogether four months were ■ occu« ■ pied on the trip, and satisfactory re- ■ ports are brought back by the ship . of the success of the missionary work • among the Islands. Things .were found to be in a prosperous state- at the islands, with the exception of the Gilbert Group. Here a prolonged drought has been the cause of great / distress among the native population. /■■ "At some of the islands," said one of the officers of the John Williams,' "many had died of starvation, and we heard at one of our stations that some of the natives had even been driven to commit suicide through the pangs of hunger." "Our native teachers were among the sufferers," and very often shared their scant supplies with, the starving natives. What few cocoanuts were obtainable were very small, and it would take a dozen of them to supply a good meal;" "The drought," the officer added, "had extended over many months, and unless rain came , soon after the John Williams sailed the death rate must increase, and in turn the islands would become depopulated." '