NEW BRITAIN DISASTER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 160, 8 June 1937, Page 6

NEW BRITAIN DISASTER.

Unhappily the volcanic eruptions in New Britain have been attended with severe loss of life •among the native people inland from Rabaul. Two white men also are known to be missing, and it is feared that they may be victims of a disaster which might very well have been attended with greater severity. For more than a week the volcanoes on Vulcan and Matupi Islands have been in violent eruption, belching forth pumice ash and dust, and causing damage on a large scale to property at Rabaul, though latest advices from the Administrator of the Mandated Territory suggest that previous views regarding the abandonment of Rabaul need not be entertained. It is often the case when disasters occur for the the earliest reports of damage to be magnified out of proportion to the actual results which are later ascertained, and it would appear that this has happened. The eruption on Vulcan Island was preceded by heavy earthquake shocks which alarmed the people of Rabaul. Then came the upheaval from an island which oris'inated in a tremendous submarine eruption 69 years ago and was itself forced to a further considerable height, affecting the entrance to Rabaul harbour. At the same time the seafront, as is natural under such circumstances, underwent changes as the water receded, but happily there was no tidal wave. It was the fumes from the Vulcan Island volcano that overwhelmed 300 uatives living in the vicinity. Of chief interest, now that the volcanoes have become quiescent, is the stocktaking. With-the prompt evacuation of the . residents to Kokopo there lias been talk of removing the capital to this seaside resort, but the Administrator “is surprised at the smallness of the damage at Rabaul which merely requires cleaning up,’’ work that is proceeding. The area of New Guinea under mandate to Australia, embracing the north-east portion of New Guinea proper and the Bismarck Archipelago, which includes New Britain on which Rabaul is situated, is subject to severe earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The latest upheaval has been the most severe 'in the history of the territory, so that suggestions to move away from the danger area of Rabaul may well be justified. To what extent the harbour has been affected has yet to be made clear, but it has at least been negotiated by one vessel. After their harrowing experience the residents naturally are averse to exposing themselves to further danger in a region of volcanic instability, and no doubt they fear that on some future occasion they may not have the warnings given them eleven days ago.