NAURU ISLAND

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 19 July 1920, Page 4

NAURU ISLAND

A w& J g^sr°AL

iZ^tK° ha>™ imasin«i that the. Island of Nauru is a bare patch of arid land have termed an entirely wrona conclusion. Nauru Island, as I matS* ot fact, IS lovered with tropical vece. tatioa and trees, and was 3 Pleasant Island by that great voyager Captain Cook, when he iirst discovered

Recently a reporter of the Otego uaiiy i lmes j^ an interesting jnternew Wlth Mr H. Rowley, of Ro3£U who spent several years on the island! He left the island just before the outbreak or the war, and then went to. the front. Mr Rowley has many photographs of views on the island* and these go to show what a beautiful' X V s-and £ ow *** Pacifio hm»." phate Company ha s spe nt thousands of pounds m installing machinery and: labor-saving devices to enable the hug©. deposits of-phosphates to be economically worked. The phosphates are. easily dug out, the tropical growth being, of course, first cleared away. Nauru Island is but half a degree off 1 th» equator. It is a land of perpetual sunshine, with a monsoonal rainfall 7 lasting over a period of about threemonths. The rain falls in really tropical snowers, and on one occasion the^ IV* r to^ eJUJ *? taUed no less tha* ldttl The island is ten miles in circumference, and is practically oomJ?. sed, of P^re phosphate. Originally this phosphate is supposed to have been the excrement of birds. One picture* shows innumerable pinnacles of coraJ sticking up, the phosphates Havingbeen dug out from between the pinnacles The phosphates are worked by - Jlanakas from the Marshall and Carothe pandana is treated by the nativeß, I are indentured. They are a very peaceable, race, and cleanly in their habits. At the time Mr Rowley was there the* natives worked under British and German overseers! He does not considerit possible for white men to engage itt Jfard or manual labor on the island, owing, to the heat. He has known the", thermometer to show 140deg in the > shade Th c Kanakas lire on cocoanuts, fruit from th« various trees, and fish, whidh is eaten raw. Bread fruittrees grow on the'island, and a treecalled the pandana. The fruit from the pandana. is treated by the natvies, and worked into a material somethingresembling malthoid roofing in appearance. A piece is torn off as required^ and eaten by the native. The natives,, make an intoxicating drink from the coooanut palm. About 1200 Kanakas; were on the island when Mr Rowley was there, and he presumes that about,; the same number are stfll employed^ le\I e\ lt {* a Sreat place for coral,-, and Mr Rowley has many souvenirs-. made of thifi rock in hig possession. The nearest island to Nauru is Ocean,-. Island, whidh is about 100 miles away. Ocean Island also has large deposits of ■- phosphates.

A number of lagoons on the island J supply a brackish water, which is suitrable for drinking, but tanks to catch the rainfall and a, system of condensation of the sea water augment the supply. Mr Rowley is an, engineer,., and was engaged in suporvising the v erection of a Diesel plant to generate^ electricity for use in working the phofi'phate beds by a system of wire'haul--age, etc. Small raflwaya run through the island, and the, trucks carry the> phosphate to the wharf. The engineer, used to be driven by coal fuel, but the railway system has now been electri--fied. A road traverses the island, and the bicycle is a handy method of loco--motion, as can be seen from one of theW photographs. Mr Rowley explained that while the - island used to be owned by Germany, ; the . phosphates were worked by the«* Pacific Phosphates Company, half the-* capital of •which was British money and . the other half German. Sixpence » ton royalty had to be paid to the. German Government on the oufeut ; of • phosphates. "

Steamers cannot t get into the - wharves, and the phosphates have to •> be carried in boats to the cargo vessels.The photographs of the natives showthem as happy-looking individuals, and! those of the cricket ground, the lawn tennis court, and other places demon--strate that the white people have sufficient opportunity for pleasant recrea. _ tion.

The houses for the white people, of ~ which there are- not a great many_ areset in the midst of tropical growth, and the' Pacific Company had appar- - ently gone to great trouble to see that i the living conditions on the island of" both whites and blacks were made as^comfortable as they could be. Live* cattle are carried to the island, there rkilled, and th e carcases placed in freez- - ; ing chamberSj to be used as required..' The up-to-date machinery of all descriptions, as shown by the phot©--graphs, prove a really remarkable spirit of enterprise. But, Mr Rowley ~ maintains, it is no place for a whiter man to live if he is to be called on forheavy bodily exertion.