Hurricane

Solomons and Hebrides Affected

J3EPORTS from various sources indi -*■*' cate that a hurricane developed in the Western Pacific between December 8 and 14, and affected the Southern Solo mons and the New Hebrides. It was not a very serious “blow” —although it occa sioned some anxiety in Fiji for a time; but it moved off to the north-eastwards and missed Fiji.

The first reports came from Vanikoro (Southern Solomons) and were to the effect that on December 8 and 9 all the buildings belonging to the saw-milling settlement there, except the manager’s house and the store, had been wrecked and some of them blown out to sea. It was a terrifying experience, apparently, but no-one was injured.

Two days later, on December 11, the hurricane was reported near Vila, moving slowly in a south south-easterly direc tion. It remained generally westwards of Vila for some time, moving northwards and southwards. Reports from French sources are to the effect that no great damage was done, although numerous plantations on the outlying islands were severely shaken, and owners of small buildings and of small vessels reported some losses.

Miss Ida Bowden, of the Melanesian Mission at Raga, New Hebrides, has been spending furlough in New Zealand.

Captain J. L. W. Rawson, master of Levers’ motor vessel Kurimarau, returned to the Solomon Islands by the Malaita from Australia on January 9.