BLIGHTED TOWN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 130, 3 June 1937, Page 7

BLIGHTED TOWN.

RUIN OF RABAUL. European Women and Children Urged to Leave. HARBOUR NOT BLOCKED. United Press Association.—Copyright. (Received 11 a.m.) SYDNEY, this day. A Rabaul, New Guinea, message says that it has now been found that the harbour opening is not completely blocked as a result.of the eruption. A small motor vessel, the Desikoko, forced its way from the Harbour through floating pumice. The Administrator, Brigadier-General W. Ramsay McNicoll, reported to Canberra that the situation at Rabaul was much easier. A special correspondent of the Australian Associated Press, in a radio message from Rabaul, says: Rabaul presents the sight of a blighted township. Trees are stripped of their foliage and houses, which are smothered in dust and ashes, are deserted. Most of the streets are impassable. Only one woman remains. This is : Mrs. Bignell, of the Rabaul Hotel, who refused to desert her pos%. She remains busily employed feeding the few remaining men engaged in the transportation of food supplies from the stores at Nordup Beach, where they are shipped to the European, Asiatic and native refugees at Kokopo. Organisation Excellent. The organisation is excellent and there is no shortage of food at present. The Administrator has advised European women and children to proceed to Australia as quickly as possible. The volcano newly formed In the vicinity of Vulcan Island is now 610 ft high and a mile and a half wide. Huge volumes of steam and ashes are being emitted all day. The second eruption near the Matupi crater is diminishing. It is a wonderful spectacle at night. Several plantations on the north coast have been severely damaged. It is suggested that the cause of the outbreak was the recent inactivity of the. father volcano situated in the Talasea district. This has been long recognised as Rabaill's safety-valve. European and native police are constantly patrolling and safeguarding property in Rabaul.