ISLANDERS' TRIALS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23215, 8 December 1938, Page 14

ISLANDERS' TRIALS

NO BAIN AT NAUBTJ WATER SUPPLIES RATIONED SHORTAGE BECOMES ACUTE [by TELECRAPH—OWN correspondent] NEW PLYMOUTH, "Wednesday Drought conditions at Nauru Island had placed residents on low water rations when the Bank Line steamer Springbank, which arrived at New Plymouth yesterday, left the island with a cargo of fertiliser. Moreover, it was estimated that rain would not fall for a considerable time. No rain had fallen on .the island for a long time, said an officer of the Springbank. Except for a distilling plant to obtain fresh water from the ocean, the Islanders depended entirely on rain, and the long spell of dry weather had not only reduced them to small rations, but had killed poultry and animals. To obtain water oblong slopes of concrete were formed to catch all the rain possible. From the concrete it flowed into troughs and was conveyed from there to'reservoirs. From reservoirs it was rationed into the tanks with which each residence was supplied. The only natural water on the island was a pool which was fed by the sea and was, therefore, useless for drinking purposes. Although fairly serious, the position at Ocean Island was not as acute as at Nauru, Water was more plentiful at Ocean Island and no rationing took place.