Emergency Supplies

New Hebrides Gets Emergency Supplies After Hurricane

Emergency supplies were

shipped from Suva to the New Hebrides in the Royal Navy survey ship HMS Cook in December following a hurricane which did substantial damage in the Group in mid-November.

THE Cook’s cargo included 70 tons of cement, 1,200 super feet of timber, four tons of roofing iron and eight tons of reinforcing rods.

The Cook brought the material from Suva at the request of the British Resident Commissioner, Mr.

A. M. Wilkie.

Most of it was destined for Tongoa and Tongariki in the Shepherd Group, which suffered the worst damage in the hurricane.

Tongoa is the most densely popu lated island in the New Hebrides, It is only eight miles in circumference, but its population is in the vicinity of 2,300.

The hurricane completely des troyed the village of Matengi on the eastern side of Tongoa, and about 70 per cent, of the houses in other villages. There was also considerable damage to coconut palms and other trees.

The French and British District Agents for Central District No. 1 (which includes the Shepherd Group) were authorised to spend up to £Stg. 1,000 on immediate relief measures, and they left Vila in the MV Alize on November 22 with emergency supplies.

They unloaded three and a half tons of rice, cases of tinned meat,

clothing and building materials at Tongoa, and then took about 80 Tongariki natives, who had been on Tongoa during the hurricane, to their own island which had suffered much the same damage as Tongoa.

Although the force of the hurricane was felt throughout the New Hebrides, the only other place that was severely affected was Forari, the manganese mining centre, on the eastern coast of Efate. Latest esti mates place the damage there as high as £75,000.

Messages of sympathy and offers of help poured into Vila as soon as news of the hurricane was received abroad.

The British Red Cross headquarters in London wired the local branch offering £625, and the French Red Cross put £450 at the disposal of the French Residency.

The vessel UOrientaise arrived at Tongoa on December 12 with food and clothing that had been given by the Red Cross and the people of New Caledonia.

Wharf labourers in Suva take emergency supplies aboard HMS "Cook" for shipment to the New Hebrides.

Photo: Stan Whippy.