LIFE ON FANNING ISLAND

Taranaki Daily News, 21 September 1931, Page 12

LIFE ON FANNING ISLAND

PACIFIC CABLE BASE. HAPPY LITTLE SETTLEMENT. Sydney, September 10. The sailing of the Union Company’s steamer Waihemo for Fanning Island on Tuesday last recalls some interesting facts regarding that tiny, but important, cable base in the mid-Paciflc. For years the Union Company’s boats have made periodical calls under contract with the Pacific Cable Board, but with the sailing of the Waihemo the contract ceased and will not be renewed. Interest in Australia and New Zealand will not cease, however, as the staff at the cable station is composed entirely of Australians and New Zealanders. The inhabitants of the island use Australian currency. Fanning Island is, in fact, the one place outside the Commonwealth at the present time where Australian money is accepted at its face value. Fanning Island was annexed by Great Britain when It was found that it lay in the line of the Pacific cable. When the cable had been laid a repeating station was constructed on the island, some distance to, the north-west of the original settlement, which had been built on the entrance to the lagoons. With the exception of a small area given over to the cable station, the whole of the island is taken up by a coconut plantation, which is British-owned. In formation the island is. a typical atoll, comprising a roughly circular reef of coral, about .80 miles in circumference and half a mile across at its widest point. As in the case of all atolls, sand has collected above the coral and. tropical vegetation has taken root in the sand. At no point is the ground more than Oft. above sea level. The lagoon formed by the reef is a mass of coral shoals, but trading schooners are able to find anchorage in it near the channel which connects it with the open sea. The cable station staff comprises 12 engineers and operators. There are seven wives resident on the island, and there are a number children. Four or five Europeans on the plantations complete the white population. In addition, there Are about 150 natives employed as servants or on the plantation. By means of up-to-date wireless installations, the inhabitants are kept in touch with the outside world. Modern bungalows are electrically lighted and equipped with electric refrigerators. A clubhouse contains billiard tables and a well-stocked library, and there is a tennis court. The settlement also boasts a post office and a savings bank. Life on the island is very healthy. The temperature varies only slightly throughout the year; there is only about seven minutes’ variation in the length of daylight, and the bracing south-east trade winds blow across the island all the year round. Large fish are found and provide the angler with excellent sport. The presence of sharks does not deter swimmers, as the monsters, well supplied with fish, have never been known to attack man. With the assistance of soil brought as ballast by copra schooners, the station staff has induced tropical fruits to flourish and provide them with tasty desserts. Each man is required to spend two years at the island, but the conditions are such that no one is really anxious to leave.