THE ISLAND HURRICANE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 50, 23 February 1912, Page 8

THE ISLAND HURRICANE.

TRADE SET BACK FOR AT LEAST TEN YEARS. DISASTROUS” RESULTS. (Per Press Association.! ! W'M Auckland, February 21. News brought per s.s. Nuvua of the ' disastrous results of tne hurricane af'Haapai, shows that the damage done to tnat group is estimated at £50,900. Two hundred thousand cocoaiiut trees were blown down. In some towns not a single house is standing. Ail 1 the churches are 1 down, /including tlfe’ Free Church, which cost £2OOO. Traders and’ 'storekeepers‘‘all’siiffhrhtfSeverely: I W;.'-"!*■'

iTiickically evtiry r bba't ‘ iii ! the port wits ’wfbcked by a tidal wave, which drove ! k' hundred iatiioins inland. At the town of Lefuka widespread damage was done, and the natives are face to face with partial starvation. The Davila, on her return voyage, will take large supplies of food. It is estimated that trade in the Haapaii group has sustained a setback from which it won’t recover for ten yeWsT ; ” ! '* ’ v '" ** Mr F. J. Watkins, 1 Collector of Customs m the group, tells the following, story : ’ “For thirteen years I have lived 'at 'Lefuka,” he said, “and never before -have I known such a storm. Never in the memory of any inhabitant in tlie ,J group has there been sucli a terrible :| gale, br such frightful havoc caused.’ The whole of Haapai group has been Swept clear. Nearly every house 1 ' lias been demolished, plantations' razed to the ground, boats smashed to pieces, and the town of Lefuka practically swept out of existence by a tidal wave. Thousands of pounds’ worth of damage has been done, and thousands of natives in the group are faced with starvation, with the result that the Government is sending big commissions to Auckland for food, corn and seed, so as to prepare for the serious time ahead. Houses were washed away, and the doors of the Treasury Office were forced open under the weight of water, and the place inundated. Houses •were collapsing in every direction, as if mado of cafds. The gale blew at a velocity of 60 miles an hour. It is estimated that 200,000 cocoanut trees have been blown down in Lefuka itself. Over 200 houses have simply disappeared, and in their towns there is not a single house left standing. In Inongone only time houses remain to mark the site of what w&s;previously a, pretty town. Practically the whole of the local fleet has been demolished, the only boat left intact and safe at moorings being the Auckland-built vessel Kao. The Government yacht Losa was smashed to pieces and the wreckage was swept right into the town. The auxiliary vessel Mileno was amongst the others which were smashed up, and there is scarcely a lighter left in the group. The natives are in a bad plight, as the cocoanut plantations throughout the group have been demolished, , and starvation faces them. It will bo years before the copra trade can again be established. The banana crops suffered in the gale, and there is hardly a bread fruit tree left. Over 400 natives are homeless.”