RAPID SPREAD.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18893, 7 January 1927, Page 9

RAPID SPREAD.

INFLUENZA IN EUROPE.

COFFIN SHORTAGE IN MONT PELLIEP.

(Br cable-fbs:-' ArSOaAT'O.V-'-OrnHGHT.) (AUSTRALIAN AND 5.3. CAf-I.S ASSOCIATION".)

(Received January 6th, 7.30 p.m.i

LONDON, January <J

Tlie influenza epidemic jr. so drastic in Montpelier that bodies are being buried without coffins, Hie supply of which is inadequate. At Bordeaux, the deaths average 40 a day. The whole town of Wicsentha! in 6'outh Baden ir crippled owing io infection.

Medical authorities in Madrid declare that the outbreak can be traced to tho Christmas festivities, and_ the consequent kissing and handshaking. In Brussels the epidemic has assumed an alarming character. The disease takes the form of ;eizures in the street, the victims having difficulty in breathing. It is practically impossible to obtain medical assistance. There are GCO hospital cases in Geneva, where the authorities turned the military barracks into an emergency hospital. Half the staff of the League of Nations secretariat is stricken, and the re-opening of the schools and the umversitv is postponed indefinitely.