HURRICANE IN FIJI.

Otago Witness, Issue 3961, 11 February 1930, Page 34

HURRICANE IN FIJI.

The following appeared in last week’s jßecond Edition.

EXTENSIVE DAMAGE. WELLINGTON, February 4. An account of the damage wrought by the recent hurricane in Fiji was given hy the Ven, Archdeacon W. J. Hands, ■vicar of Suva and archdeacon of Fiji, to-day. The hurricane lasted for 16 hours, and blew at the rate of 120 miles per hour, devastating the whole countryaide. At Lainbasa, on the Island of Vanua Levu, the centre of the Colonial Sugar Company’s operations, where hundreds of people are employed and where the headquarters of the Church of England Indian mission arc situated, the •wind was accompanied by heavy rain. The river rose rapidly, flooding all the surrounding Hat lands to a depth of seven feet. The mission school and the dispensary were laid flat by the wind and the timbers carried away by the rushing waters. Nothing remained except the concrete floor of the latter and a few piles. All the houses are to be rebuilt, 2o men having gone from New Zealand to do that work, The damage to the Church of England mission property is estimated as between £2OOO and £3OOO, and an appeal will be made by the Board of Missions for a sum for the repairing of damages.