BOMBARDMENT OF PAPEETE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 23 October 1914, Page 5

BOMBARDMENT OF PAPEETE.

FURTHER DETAILS

BY I'fcIEQRAPH— PRESS ASSOCIATION.

AUCKLAND, Oct. 22. Interesting accounts of-the effects of the German bombardment of Papeete are told by passengers on the Talune, which arrived in Auckland to-day from the Islands.

Mr H. Hemus, who made the round trip with the boat, states that when they arrived off the French port on September 9 they found the old gunboat Zelee and the German collier "Walkure sunk in the harbor, while on every hand there were evidences of damage done by German shells. The big store of coal which the French had ignited when the Germans first' made their appearance was still burning, and the harbor beacons which had been blown up on the approach of the Scharhhprst. and the Gneisenau, were no longer visible. Mr Hemus said that in spite of the extensive nature of the damage, he was of opinion that the poajtien. of the damaged buildup jndieated that the town was not d.elfbe.ratfly shelled, Prac, tioally a)l the damage jay in the line ©f the forts on, thiiills, and of the gunboat Zelee, and boi'e out the account previously given that the -shells which dropped' on the town .were due to the bad marksmanship of the German guime<r§, consequent upon the swell on the sea.

Speaking of the effects of the shells upon the various buildings, Mr'Henms said that in the Circe Bourgaville, one shell had penetrated the. building along the entire length of the roof;*. Another shell had "gone through four different walls without exploding. Amongst the most extensively damaged business premises 'in the town are those of ■Messrs A. B. Donald, in the Rue de Commerce. No shells had struck the premises, but they had besn. caught by the fire which had spread unchecked after the inhabitants had fled. The front of the store was undamaged, but the remainder of the buildings, stocked with island merchandise of every description, had been destroyed. Mr Hemus was unable. to give .an estimate of the done to /his firm's premises, * but said that the French authorities had estimated the damage done to the island at, £125,000. Many of the, German"residents of the town had left Tahiti at the -outbreak .of the.war, but after the bombardment those who were left were taken prisoners, and when the Talune arrived they were engaged in the task of clearing up the debri'?. ■-•-"■'•

Travellers by the Talune recognised in the perspiring Teutons many residents with whom thej previously had been intimately acquainted. While the Talune was'in Papeete, the French boat St. Francis, which vleft to give the alarm at Apia, safely returned.