TORNADO IN CANADA.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1482, 3 July 1912, Page 7

TORNADO IN CANADA.

GREAT DAMAGE AT REQINA. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright Vancouver, July 1. The town of Regina, tho capital of Saskatchewan, has been involved in a great [catastrophe. A tornado etruok the town, levelled several hundred buildings, and" killed fifty perspns. Communication with tho outer world was cut off. Relief trains with doctors and nurses were dispatched from /Winnipeg:. The proporty loss is roughly estimated nt .£1,000,000. Most of tlio peoplo were crushed in tho ruins of their houses. Several automobile parties wero lifted bodily- and hurled blooks distant. Six grain - elevators woro destroyed on tho Canadian-Pacitic tracks. The Parliament Buildings, which have just been complobed in reinforced, concretoj withstood tho tornado's violence, but wero badly shaken. Tho town generally is a mas 3 of ruins. Boats wero whirled from the river surfaoe and carried three-quarters of a mile distant. Fires followed the destruction of tie houses, but tho flro station escaped unscathed, and ■ consequently the firemen were ablo to prevent the flames spreading. 1 Pathetic scenes mark the recovery of tho bodies. Distracted relatives are searching everywhere for lost ones. Hallway cars were carried into th/e streets from tho railway yards. 1 HAEMAL LAW PROCLAIMED. (Kec. July 3, 0.15 a.m.) ; Ottawa, July 2. Martial law has been proclaimed at Hegina. Troops are guarding the streets to prevent lawlessness. The death roll has been reduced to 30, but' numbers are still' missing. Many persons were blown into the lake and drowned. Other cities are sending help. Tents ore being erected for tho refugees,

Regina is a town of about ten or fifteen thousand inhabitants, and was selected as the capital of the new provinco of Saskatchewan in 1905. The town is on the Canadian Pacifio Railway, 358 miles west of Winnipeg. It is a thriving place, and its population has grown from 2600 sinco 1901. The public buildings, churches, and residences are! worthy of a placo of greater pretensions. Regina was formerly the capital of the immcnso North-West Territories, with an area equal to that of all Europe outside of Russia. The town is still the headquarters of the famous North-West Mounted l'olic©, a picked force of 600 men, under: strict military discipline, which was formed to look after tho Indians and maintain law and order in tho North-West Provinces, including the Yukon. The success with which this handful of men, dispersed over so vast on area, performs its functions, and the respect by which it is regarded by whito >uon and red men alike, are almost incredible. ' -