PUMICE AND MUD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23205, 1 June 1937, Page 9

PUMICE AND MUD

RABAUL STREETS A QUAGMIRE VOLCANOES IN ERUPTION A TIDAL WAVE FOLLOWS (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) SYDNEY, May 31. (Received May 31, at 11 p.m.) Radio messages from Rabaul tori ay state that the streets of Rabaul are blocked with pumice and mud and have become a quagmire. Trees v/ere broken by the weight of mud from volcanoes on , Vulcan and Matupi Islands. The Federal Cabinet has received an urgent request for provisions and bedding for Kokopo refugees, whose rations are estimated to last only two days. The Government immediately arranged for the Island steamer Malaita, which is at Brisbane, to load food and water and leave at once. The vessel is expected to arrive at Kokopo in five days. Sulphur fumes forced the radio operators from the Rabaul station, but the men returned to their posts late yesterday. They are now only able to provide an emergency radio service, which is being relayed to Sydney by vessels at sea. A brief message from Rabaul this evening states that a tidal wave struck the town, causing extensive damage. There is considerable anxiety in Sydney concerning the fate of those who were not evacuated. NO TIDAL WAVE PREVIOUS REPORT DENIED SYDNEY, May 31. (Received June 1, at 1.15 a.m.) The message about the tidal wave at Rabaul which was received here by the Burns Philp Company was without foundation. The radio station at Rabaul, which is almost on the waterfront, reported to-night that there was no sign of a tidal wave. “We would not be here if one came.”

“HOTBED OF VOLCANOES” IMPRESSIONS OF DUNEDIN VISITOR ROTORUA ON A BIG SCALE Not a great deal of surprise was experienced by Mr T. R. Thomson, of Anderson’s Bay, when he read in yesterday’s cabled news the description of a volcanic eruption in the neighbourhood of Rabaul, at the northern end of New Britain Island, New Guinea. Mr Thomson has mining interests in Bwagaoia, a small island in the Louisiade archipelago, which is about 450 miles almost due south of Rabaul. He returned to Dunedin only a fortnight ago from a trip which included a cruise round New Britain, a call at Rabaul and visits to Kokopo and other settlements at the north end of the island. The whole district is, of course, volcanic —“ a hotbed of volcanoes,” as Mr Thomson described it. Miid tremors are common, and the surrounding country is like Rotorua on a big scale. Jets of steam give the appearance of hundreds of camp fires round the slopes of the mountains. Mr Thomson visited at least one boiling pool which heated the sea water which washed up to it to such an extent that a wave scalded the feet of one member of the party. There was plenty of evidence of previous eruptions and disturbances. For instance, part of the coastline of Lae, in Morobe, North-East New Guinea, had disappeared as though shorn off with a huge axe. That happened about six years ago. The ship on which Mr Thomson travelled also passed the Vitu Islands, one of which had suffered to an even greater extent, one end of it being cut off cleanly by a disturbance located only a few hundred yards from the island. Then there was a small island not far from Rabaul which appeared and disappeared periodically. Rabaul itself has a white population of about 2000, most of which is accounted for by the management of coconut plantations and a few big trading concerns. The low values for copra ruling two or three years ago had had a marked effect on commerce, but on this trip, his third. Mr Thomson saw every sign of prosperity again. Buildings in Rabaul were not big, only a few being of two storeys, he said, and the rows of trees down the middle and each side of the main streets were essential to give some protection from the sun. It was a difficult place for white men and women to live in, and Mr Thomson repeated that the live volcanoes scattered all oVer that part of the island and the other manifestations of submarine activity created the impression that the Bismarck Archipelago will never be free from disturbances such as that of Sunday. The settlement to which the white population of Rabaul had removed was probably Kokopo, a coastal resort about 20 miles away.