RUINS OF MESSINA.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1875, 8 October 1913, Page 7

RUINS OF MESSINA.

EARTHQUAKE AND AFTER. A VIVID DESCRIPTION. ' By Tel«trrapli—Prcsa Assoofatlon—Oopyrlplil (Re'c. October 7>, 9.35 p.m.) London, October 7. The "Daily Chroniclo's" correspondent at Messina, writes a vivid description of tlio desolation there. The Italian Government a year ago voted £100,000 to repair tho ravages of tlio great earthquake, but, states tlio writer, tho contractors liavo not yet started tho repair work, tho wharves aro still sunken, tho sides of tho quaj'B still scattered, and the parade still encumbered with rubbish duo to tho 150 feet tidal wave.

Nevertheless, the natural advantages of tho place as a trade port aro already greater than they wero before the disaster. Tho Cathedral, of which tho gem-laden altar alono cost £100,000, lies in ruins, and tho twenty-two pillars- of tho Templo of Neptune Charybdis lio smashed on tho pavement. Nightwatchmen, armed with revolvers, guard tho ruins, but many of the mosaics and statues liavo been plundered £27,000,000 worth of treasure has already been recovered from tlio ruins, including £80,000 in cash from the premises of olio small firm. Fow of the Sicilians invest their wealth in banks, preferring to conceal their hoards; sacksful of coins, Oriental bonds, exquisite jewels, and pearls have been found. Thirty thousand bodies havo not yet been recovered. Many of thoso disinterred were shockingly carbonised. In other cases there are unmistakable signs that the victims survived on chance food for days and weeks. One thousand three hundred bodies wero buried in a tomb 100 ft. by 30ft.