A BIG’ WIND.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18286, 8 June 1929, Page 19

A BIG’ WIND.

CHURCH BLOWN FROM ITS STRUTS. Among the passengers W'ho arrived at Sydney recently from Papua were Father Caudron and Father Ruys. The former has been connected with the Sacred Heart Mission for upwards of 25 years, and the latter for nearly 10 years. The Sacred Heart Mission has its headquarters on Yule Island, 80 miles to the west of Port Moresby, but its sphere of influence extends for more than 100 miles into the great mountain inland. Father Caudron has been stationed at Oba-bba, in the Delava district, and knows intimately the mountain tribes that inhabit this wet, mist-covered area. Seen last week, Father Caudron explained that he was proceeding on a short holiday visit to Belgium, his native country, and from there he would go to the Sacred Heart Mission in the Belgian Congo. Father Ruys for some time past has been stationed at Peni-paka, a village in the Me 1 :so district, which lies across Hall Sound from Yule Island. Father Ruys said that the wet season just finished had been very boisterous, and during it a “Goo-boo” (Papuan for “big wind”) had blown the wooden church at Peni-paka from its wooden | struts and carried it bodily sideways for several yards. I Despite much damage to the struc- | ture it was remarkable, he said, that a statue of the Virgin Mary had not been displaced from its position in the building. Father Ruys, who is also going to the Belgian Congo, said that the large cocoanut plantation conducted by the mission authorities in the Mekeo district was most successful.