ISLAND RADIO STATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 690, 15 June 1929, Page 6

ISLAND RADIO STATION

OPENED AT MAUKE LONELY SPOT IN COOK GROUP Another of the remote islands in the Cook Group has been brought more closely into touch with civilisation by means of wireless, for advice has been received of the opening of a radio station at Maukc or Perry Island. The station was opened for traffic last Monday. For several mouths of the year, during the hurricane season, there is no communication between the outer islands of the group and, consequently, wireless will be a boon to the inhabitants. Mauke is a low, flat island, 150 miles from Rarotonga. It is surrounded by a fringing reef, which does not permit canoes to cross it easily. A landing has to be made on the edge of the coral reef itself, and then one wades or is carried through the shallow water in the depression between the coral and the island itself.

Although only four and a-half square miles in area, Mauke is very fertile, and exports many oranges to New Zealand, as well as bananas. The usual native foods are also grown. The oranges, however, are very good in quality, as the climate is a fairly dry one. Of the two settlements on the island, one is on the foreshore and the other inland. There are some fine caves on the island, round which many legendary tales are told. The native population is about 600.