Dr C J Austin reports of his visit in 1952: "Left Auki for the Melanesian Mission Station at Fauabu where a new leprosy hospital is under construction and where it is hoped to house 80 patients. At present there are only 28, mostly lepromatous cases, though some hae perforating ulcers requiring surgical treatment." (C J Austin, Leprosy in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate (Noumea: South Pacific Commission, 1952, p iv)