"BLOWN FLAT."

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 69, 23 March 1931, Page 9

"BLOWN FLAT."

FIJI ISLAND HOME.

FAMILY LOSES ALL.

RUINED IN HALF AN HOUR.

TERRIFIC FORGE OF HURRICANE,

To have the result of years of labour irretrievably ruined, and their means of livelihood virtually disappear in about half an nour was the experience of Mr. Claude de Mouncey and his son, Mr. Desmond de Mouncey, who arrived by the Aorangi from Suva yesterday. They owned the Island of Wakaya, ten miles due east of Levuka, and they experienced four hurricanes within 10 months, the last being on March 2. Their coconut plantations were ruined, their trading vessels smashed up on the beach, and their homestead was wrecked.

"There will be no living on the island, even for a native, for the next three years," said Mr. de Mouncey, sen.,'"and even at the expiration of that time it is very doubtful if there will be a living, because of the state of the copra markets. To-day at £9 10/ per ton it does not pay to grow copra. When we bought the island in 1924 copra was selling at £21 10/ per ton. But now whale oil has taken its place. We know that copra will not come back to where it was. Even if the slaughter of whales causes a shortage, there is any amount of oil to be had from sharks. There is too much capital invested in the whale oil industry for it to be abandoned at any time." A Beautiful Island. Mr. de Mouncey and his son were in the Fiji Group for 26 years, and went there from Australia. He is a registered accountant by profession, and he and his son were in business in Suva when they decided to purchase Wakaya, which he described as one of the most beautiful sjiots in the Pacific. It is from six to

seven square miles in extent, seven miles long and on the average about a mile wide. Some 900 acres were cultivated for copra growing and the output was about 200 tons. Now it is nil. The island is a favourite port of call for the ships of His Majesty's Navy stationed in New. Zealand waters, and it is also of interest that Count von Luckner, of the raider Seeadler, was captured in the homestead bay called Nukutubu Bay, after his long sail.of thousands of miles across the Pacific. The island is the only one* in the Fiji Group on which there are wild deer.

"The first of a series of hurricanes which started our troubles," said Mr. de Mauncey jun., "happened in November, 1929. That was the big blow; but, strange to say, in comparison it did not do so much damage. In January, 1930, we had another blow and again in November, 1930, there was another big one. These three hit the island pretty hard, but it was the one on March 2 that blew our island flat in half an hour. Everything was wrecked. Drying sheds were smashed and trading cutters were piled up far on to the beaches. Coconut trees were stripped bare and uprooted. Everything we had was destroyed. Ship Hurled on to Beach. "To give some idea of the force of the hurricane, iron bolts which were sunk in concrete and holding down wooden partitions in the drying sheds, were pulled out and snapped off. .Anchoi chains, as thick as your arm, holding the cutters, were just snapped like string, and a cutter of 70 tons, and partly loaded with 25 tons of copra. was practically lifted out of the water and thrown yards up on the beach amongst the plantation trees. Thene were 30 white people on the island, the others being natives. Fortunately no lives were lost." The hurricanes having uprooted their home, Mr. de Mauncey and his \vif< and son decided-'to abandon the island and come to New Zealand to make :: fresh start.