THE FIJI HURRICANE.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9008, 22 January 1895, Page 5

THE FIJI HURRICANE.

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright

Sydney, January 21.

Id connection with the recent hurricane at Fiji, a private letter states that the moat dreadful thing of all is still to come in the shape of starvation* .flow the unfortunate people who have lost everything by the hurricane are to keep body and soul together is a mystery. Hundreds are now eating food unfit for human consumption, so that an epidemic of dysentry may be expected to make its appearanoe. ,

(PRESS ASSOCIATION TBLBORAM.) • AUCKLAND, January 21. A private letter from Fili states :— " There are several cotters total wrecks OD the coast of Taviuni. The cutter Alarm, which w»a lying at.anchor at the north end of the island went down with a full load of copra. - Corbett and Hoot's cutter Shark, a large cutter from Levuka, the Eleanor belonging to Ratri Lala, a native vessel at Somo Somo, and the'mission cutter at Waireki are all.total wrecks. One of the crew of the Shark was drowned when, with another native, trying to go out, to the vessel, the dingy capsizing. One got ashore all right, 'but the other has not been seen since. Three people have been, killed by houses blowing down on them during-'the . night. Many of the whites on Taviuni have had their houses blown away. Some of these stood the 1886 and 1888 storms, bub this time they areblowu as far as 300 to 400 yards away. Peterson was left houseless and G. McKaasack's house was blown away. J. Rennie had a building wrecked. Somo Somo suffered very badly. The bouse and store of Mrs Taylor at Waireki are down, ' and several buildings inside the Mission fence at Waireki are destroyed. Part of the new stone church is also down. So far as this part of the country ,is concerned al the planters are done for, and it will be a long time before Taviuni will get over this blow, and some will never get over it. Yams and all other foods are swept clean away. Aβ fof copra, after all the nuts that are fib for copra have been made up we will be done for two or three years. The Brothers,, cutter, is reported to have been swept out to eea from Taviuni, where she was lying at anchor. No further particulars are yet to hand. The new Wesleyan mission house at Baw was unroofed, and that at Viwa was blown down, while a considerable number of native houses in both places are wrecked." The Levuka correspondent of the Fyi Times, writing on the 14th inst, says:—"Ba and Penang have, escaped without any damage, also Bua and Maculate. One of the crew of the Buli Lakeba schooner has arrived in Levuka, and reports that the vessel was leaving Cioiaou Saturday morning for Laketa, but the* wind was too strong, and the vessel had to run before it, eventually foundering between Baliki and Lav, and twelve people were drowned, the sole survivor getting aahore at Lav. Lav has suffered considerably, both houses and trees being blown down, also BatikL The same at Rotamah. A native who wasonboard the Maluastates that the vessel sank at her moorings at Levuka and he swam to BatikL Com has also suffered severely, and the schooner Ocean, which was anchored there, had her masts cut away to try and save her, but without effect, and she has been blown away, iwith Captain Lancaster and seven natives on board. The Ocean is an Auckland built vessel, constructed in Auckland in 1873, and is owned by J. Baigent. Captain Eraser, who was on the Alarm when she sank at her moorings at |Tavioni daring the blow, had bis weather glass with hint and it points to having fallen below the quicksilver ball—in fact, so low that it cannot be read. The Malosi and Chutes cutters both sunk in harbour during the blow, have-both, been raised with very little damage; and the Cygnet is reported at Tai Leva and Businl Kalanau at Kaba. So we are in hopes of yet hearing of some other vessels."