Hurricanes Predicted;

Hobson’s Choice Dept.:

But No Earthquakes

From Our Own Correspondent

Suva, Nov. 29.

A NUMBER of older people in Fiji are confidently predicting a hurricane in the current season. This sort of thing is usually predicted after the event by people who say that all along they had had a feeling that something was on the way.

The main reason for the present prediction is the prolonged drought and the absence of thunderstorms. (It is a widespread belief that thunder somehow prevents hurri canes) .

Suva’s first big thunderstorm of the season occurred on the last day of November. Torrents of rain fell for nearly an hour and went a long way towards ending the semi drought which started at the end of July and by October had become a full drought.

Some rain fell in the western districts of Viti Levu towards the end of the month, but not enough.

In parts of the western area, the unprecedented dry spell has been much more than serious, threaten ing the production of sugarcane and rice and creating water shortages.

Meanwhile, November is going out with a series of earth tremors sharper than anything felt since the period immediately following the big shake on September 14. A double tremor on the morning of November 28 was accompanied by a slight “earthquake rumble” and was sufficient to send a good many Suva people scurrying into the streets.

However, nothing has occurred to alter the experts’ view that another major quake in the Suva area is extremely unlikely, and no official notice is taken of the tremors.

Certainly there is nothing to warrant an Australian broadcast statement bracketing the latest Suva tremors with the fact that the Queen will arrive on December 17—the implication being that Fiji might be a good place to be avoided.

As far as that goes, Suva is probably a safer place than some parts of New Zealand where earth quakes are frequent.

Australians seem to have lost their sense of proportion over the Suva shake, and it is rumoured that there is some difficulty in filling the two Orient cruise liners scheduled to come to Suva this summer. This sort of thing makes the average New Zealander in Fiji assume an air of haughty superiority.

IT Lieutenant Hollins Crompton, of Suva, has returned on leave after two years with the Fiji Forces in Malaya.