ERUPTION AT AMBRYM ISLAND

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 261, 31 July 1929, Page 10

ERUPTION AT AMBRYM ISLAND

FRENCH CRUISER’S VISIT

Dominion Special Service. Auckland, July 30. One of the recent experiences of the French cruiser Tourville was to skirt the shores of Ambrym Island, in the New Hebrides, which was seriously affected in the early part of the present month by local earthquakes and eruptions.

“We went within three or four miles of the island,” said one of the officers, “and the- general impression which we gained was that tree growth had been seriously burned and some of the villages destroyed. At Santo and Port Vila we had previously met missionaries w’ho had told us about,the havoc which had been wrought, stating that some hundreds of people from the affected land had to be removed in native boats to the other side of the island.” The officer said that there was no reason for the Tourville to send any of her company ashore, and so it had not been possible to gain more than a passing impression of the devastation which had been wrought. From what they learned from missionaries they thought that t+ie damage had not been very extensive. There were still signs of volcanic activity iu th; form of ashes and llrva. but it was felt that the w’orst of the experiences were over.