RABAUL ALMOST DESERTED

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22109, 3 June 1937, Page 11

RABAUL ALMOST DESERTED

* Streets Impassable And Houses Smothered NEWLY-FORMED VOLCANO ACTIVE (DITITED PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPYRIGHT.) (Received June 2, 10.10 p.m.) RABAUL, June 2. A special correspondent of the Australian Associated Press in a radio 1 message says that Rabaul presents the sight of a blighted township. The trees are stripped of foliage, and houses, which are smothered with dust and ashes, are deserted. Most of the streets are impassable. Only one woman, Mrs Bignell, of the Rabaul Hotel, who refused to desert her post, remains. She is busily employed in feeding the few remaining men, who are engaged in the transportation of food supplies from the stores at Nordup beach, whence they are shipped to European, Asiatic, and native refugees at Kokopo. The organisation is excellent, and there is no shortage of food at present. The Administrator advises European women and children to go to Australia as quickly as possible. The newly-formed volcano near Vulcan Island is now 610 feet high and a mile and a half wide. It is emitting huge volumes of steam and ashes all day. The second eruption near Matupi is diminishing. It provided a wonderful spectacle at night. Several plantations on the north coast are severely damaged. It is suggested that the cause of the outbreak was the recent inactivity of the father volcano situated in the Talasea district. It has long been recognised as Rabaul’s safety-valve. European and native police are constantly patrolling and safeguarding property in Rabaul.