Puka-Puka Breaks Long
p. 61 · Read in the full issue
Silence
From Our Own Correspondent
Mangaia, Sept. 10.
IN a personal letter to this writer the RA of Danger Island (Puka Puka), Mr. R. C. Savage, explains the year long silence of that atoll, which caused much worry in view of tidal waves, etc. elsewhere. It was impossible to send messages, he says, as the Puka Puka radio installation had broken down. Mr.
Savage also reports that the taro patches, destroyed by a succession of tidal floods since ’42, have now been replanted, thus assuring the food supply of the island.
The islands income, 1942-44 from copra and mat-weaving, was £1,700.
Mr. Savage is in sole charge of the atoll, and also acts as a dispenser etc., at need.
He comments upon the healthy appear ance of his islanders, even when they were living upon a diet of coconut during the protracted stormy periods.
At present Puka Puka is getting only one ship yearly; and has no airstrip, so radio is the chief means of communica tion.