SAMOAN HURRICANE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19221, 9 January 1926, Page 8

SAMOAN HURRICANE.

DAMAGE TO COPRA CROP.

YEAR'S LOSS OF 2000 TONS. OTHER PLANTATIONS SUFFER. REPORT OF DEATHS CONFIRMED. Serious damage was done to the Samoan crops by the recent hurricane which passed over the group, according to a cable message received yesterday by Messrs. John Burns, who have trading interests in the islands. This message stated that it was estimated that the copra output for the year would be reduced by 2000 tons, and that cocoa plantations had been damaged seriously. The cablegram also confirmed the earlier reports that there had been somo loss of life. Mention was made of serious damage to breadfruit and banana trees. The velocity of the wind at the height of the storm was given as 72 miles an hour, and it was stated that the observatory at Apia placed the centre of the hurricane at a point 150 miles north. The statement that the copra output will be reduced by 2000 tons is a disquieting one from the native's point of view, as it .is from this crop that their principal revenue is derived. A storm such as this often shears the tops of the cocoanut trees, thus ending their life of usefulness, but the main damage is caused by the destruction of the blossom and of the young immature nuts, with the result that the crop they would have produced six to twelve months hence is wiped out. The on the cocoa trees is much the same. The natives depend largely on their breadfruit trees and banana plantations for much of their food and while the banana groves can be replaced quickly the destruction of the slower-growing breadfruit tree is a much more serious matter. The position given for the centre of the storm is about midway between Samoa and the Union or Tokelau Group, but as the course taken by the hurricane is not at present known the latter group may have escaped damage. § ISLAND SCIENTIST'S VIEW. THEORIES AS TO CAUSES. t COMBINATION OF CONDITIONS. The director of the Apia observatory, Mr. Andrew Thompson, who is at present in Christchurch, stated this week that the worst previous cyclone recorded was in 1850, when' the barometric pressure fell to the lowest point recorded in the Southern Hemisphere, 27.1 in. According to all accounts the Island of Upolu was destroyed as if by fire. The population then was bigger than it is now, and a great deal of suffering resulted. Curiously enough, the adjacent island of Savaii escaped damage. Another severe cyclone occurred in 1916, but then Apia escaped and the neighbouring islands suffered. Mr. Thompson has been engaged in studying the 1889 disturbance. Many people* considered that the cause of the troublo was a tidal wave, but he was assured by an eye-witness that a cyclone was the cause. The wind, it was estimated, travelled on that occasion at a speed of 85 mileis an hour and blew all the gear off the vessels. That rate of wind has never been equalled since that time. But according to telegrams received concerning this month's disaster, the waves had been greater than they were in 1889. Mr. Thohspson considers that in the present case the danger lies in the falling of trees on the native, houses.

Continuing, he said he considered that an explanation of the phenomena lies in a combination of two theories. Where there is very hot weather and a vast stretch of water, a tremendous quantity of water is suspended in the atmosphere •in the form of steam. If by some accident the great body of steam is raised slightly higher in the atmosphere it will strike a cooler stratum and be converted back into water. The water takes up only l-1800th part of. the area of steam, and when this shrinkage takes place over a large space an enormous vacuum is left, which Nature seeks to fill as rapidly as possible. The surrounding air will be rushed in at terrific force to fill the vacuum, with a spiral motion. The wind will rush round and round, gradually drawing nearer to a centre. This inrushing of the wind will continue until all the vapour is condensed back into water.

But the centre does not remain stationary. The earth moves from west to east, but the cyclone ecntre lags behind, and gradually moves into the higher latitudes, that is, it travels north or soutlv of the equator. Samoa stands directly in the path of some of these storms when they move south of the equator, and so receives the effect of their enormous force. In higher latitudes still, their energy becomes expended, so that places in the south of Samoa are not so violently affected. , The cyclone track is sometimes quite narrow, which explains why one island may receive its force while a neighbour may remain unharmed.

This theory does not account for the fact that places to the east, say, from Tahiti to the west coast of South America, do not get cyclones. The other theory disposes of this suggestion. North of Samoa two air currents meet, and this, it is supposed, starts the air whirling in a circular motion. Between Tahiti and America no strong air currents meet, and therefore no cyclone is caused. But, were this second explanation the only one, it would not explain the terrific force of the cyclones, because the junction of two air currents would not, in itself, cause the tremendous acceleration which actually takes place.

The advocates of the two theories will allow no compromise, but Mr. Thompson believes that both are factors in a cyclone.