Suwarrow

Termites Close Suwarrow

MTTHEN a hurricane passes through T? the Cook Is. it seems always to strike Palmerston and/or Suwarrow atolls. Great damage vas done at Suwarrow when the ast hurricane passed through the 3roup in 1942. The story was Iramatically told by the late Robert )ean Prisbie in Island of Desire, le was there with his children and NZ Public Works party at that ime.

Following that hurricane, when he island was still being used by !Z as a Coast Watching station, he late Bill Bryan of Rarotonga ras despatched with fnaterials to rect a hurricane shelter for the rotection of the small population, ’he structure consists of a con rete block 15 x 20 feet and about feet thick, on which is mounted wooden house 12 feet square, its

Dor about 8 feet above the con ete block. The legs are Bx 4 inch mbers, the bracings bolted with on bolts. (See photo.).

It is probably the only hurricane lelter in the South Pacific and srtainly the only one of this kind.

In the house was a supply of mned rations, medical supplies, c., and an emergency radio aerial as erected ready for use. In the rent of a hurricane the Coast r atchers—and latterly the Weather bservers —were expected to retire i the house with their radio equip ent and carry on business as >ual.

However, those who have seen it, r en in its prime, have expressed insiderable doubt as to whether, ith a few fallen coconut trunks dged against its legs, it would re

sist the seas which sweep right across Anchorage Islet. Two years ago a NZ naval frigate withdrew the three native Weather Observers, the shelter being declared unsafe due to rot or termites.

It is believed that the NZ Meteorological Office, although anxious to re-establish the valuable weather station on Suwarrow, is not prepared to face the heavy expense involved in building a really safe hurricane shelter. The island is therefore unlikely to be resettled in the near future.

Apart from hurricane danger this atoll is heavily infested with a destructive termite which even the humcanes cannot eradicate. First introduced from a wrecked ship many years ago, the termites have

ruined the atoll as a copra pro ducer. The palms barely reach maturity before they come crashing down, riddled with holes in their trunks.

Naturally the Cook Is. Adminis tration is anxious that this pest is not spread to any of the other Cook Is. Investigation into ways and means of ridding the atoll of termites has so far proved fruitless, experts declaring that there is no cure. Suwarrow has therefore been closed to shipping, and vessels may now call only with the ‘/express permission of the Resident Commis sioner in Rarotonga, At the present high price of MOP shell, it is unfortunate that these termites cannot be overcome so as to permit pearling operations. Pearl

[?]warrow hurricane shelter not long after it was constructed.

hell is now the principal export of tie Cook Is.'—£Bo,ooo worth was ex erted last season, all to dollar jurces.

Last man to call at Suwarrow was Ir. Ken Windsor, skipper of the mall trading vessel Siren. He says lat large numbers of pigs and fowls re now running wild on Anchorage Jet. The Rarotonga police sup lied him with a rifle and ammuni on to reduce the pig population, [though the main purpose of his ‘quest for a landing permit was to btain fresh water on the long [>yage to Puka Puka.