THE HURRICANE AT FIJI. LOSS OF LIFE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume VII, Issue 1265, 24 March 1886, Page 2

THE HURRICANE AT FIJI. LOSS OF LIFE.

GREAT DESTRUCTION OF PROPJERTY.

(united press association.) AUCKLAND, March 13. The cyclone which visited Fiji on the the 2nd and 3rd did not sweep over the entire group, but has left behind a wide spread desolation. Ample warning was given of the storm. It began on March 2nd, and blew in fitful gusts from the south-east, accompanied by heavy squalls of rain. These increased in fury on March 3rd, and the glass was steadily falling. The vessels in Lebulse harbor cleared out for Naikorokora for shelter. By midnight the wind was blowing with hurricane force, and at about seven on the following morning the greatest dcs-

truetion took place. Houses were down in all directions, and the air was thick with sheets of iron and sections of shingled roofs. The high tide, assisted by a 6well from the seaward, carried away parts of the seawall. Three persons were injured by the debris. The glass kept falling till 28 40 was reached, and at eight the gale began to subside. Not more than a score of buildings in Levutta escaped injury. Three churches were blown down, -the gaol was unroofed, the public hall lifted bodily ten feet out ot position, and the Levuka and Polynesian clubs were completely ruined. Of fifteen vessels that took shelter at Naikorokora the night before the storm only saven are left. Amongst the vessels lost are tho ketch Patience, Captain W. Jones, and all hands (four) ; the cutter Corolaba, the captain of which turned up eight days after the storm with a fearful tale of exposure and peril, but the other three hands were lost. The cutter Tui at Nabukibwu was capsized, and a German named Waiter was drowned at Tavuini. Where the cyclone had exS ended its greatest force. Vuna was reuced to a heap of ruins, but five houses being left standing. J. Hosier, of Vuna Hotel, waa caught in the ruins, and has since died from ihe injuries. The cane crop was laid flat, and at the Alpkafcea plantation a Coolie was killed. Several were injured. The schooner Eastward was dismasted at Mango, Coral Queen schooner parted cables and drifted to sea, and is to be supposed lost ; the Auckland schooner Waireki went ashore at Natuva Bay. A dismasted native schooner was driven to sea from ComaiVitij' and is

supposed to be lost with 22 Fijians on board. At Suva the steamer Clyde sank alongside the wharf. The barque Bella Mary was totally wrecked at Bega Eeef, but all hands were saved. Ba, where the New Zealand Sugar Company's estate is situated, escaped, and Kadavu, which lay in the track of the hurricane, was undamaged. The damage to the town of Suva was slight.