MUNITIONS SHIP EXPLODES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 64, 8 December 1917, Page 10

MUNITIONS SHIP EXPLODES

APPALLING CATASTROPHE IN NOVA SCOTIA

HALF THE CITY OF HALIFAX

IN RUINS

HEAYY CASUALTY ROLL

Ottawa, December 6. A French munition ship was leaving her. moorings at Halifax (Nova Scotia) when she collided with an incoming steamer. The i'orce of the, impact started a which spread to the ammunition. lie _ explosion left not a trace of the ship. The crew, seeing the fire approach the hold, took to the boats, and are believed to have escaped. The concussion overthrew buildings ashore, fire broke out, and the whole of the northern section'of the city is aflame. Direct advices from Halifax place the death roll at three hundred. Other accounts state thftt the crewa of both vessels were killed. Communication with Halifax is cut off. The town is partly wrecked. Tlio explosion caused buildings on the waterfront to collapse. • It destroyed the telegraph and telephone installations over a radius of thirty miles. The roof of the railway station collapsed. No trace remains of the munition ship. The concussionl blew off railway cars from tracks several miles away. Several transports were in_ the harbour at Halifax. Their fate is unknown.—Aus.- | N.Z. Cable Assn. Amherst (Nova Scotia), December 6. The whple of the northern section of Halifax is in flames. Fires are raging in a dozen quarters of the city. Eescue trains have been dispatched, carrying nurses and doctors.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable' Assn.

DEATH AND, DESTRUCTION Montreal, December 6. The railway and telegraph companies report that half of Halifax is ruined, and bodies are lying in the streets. No troops were waiting ,to embark. The Richmond district was destroyed. The wounded number thousands. Not a house in the city escaped damage. The new Government freight railway terminal depots ware destroyed. Tne fire is now under control.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. " LATEST® IVS DEATH-ROLL FROM 800 TO 1000. (Rec. December 8, 1.30 a.m.) Halifax, December 6. police authorities estimato that the death-roll is now 800—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. The fire is now under control.. It is estimated that 1000 poople are dead.— Router. SCENE OFTHTDISASTER Halifax is the capital of Nova Scotia and tho principal Atlantio port of Canada. Its harbour is easily accessible at all seasons of the year, at all times of the tide, by ships of any tonnage, and it is capable of affording [ cate anchorage to the whole British Navy. Its selection as the American rendezvous of D'Anville's ill-starred expedition against the British American colonies in 1746 led to a demand on their part that a place of such strategic importance' should no longer be unoccupied by British troops. The demand was ably supported Dy ■ Lord Halifax, and accordingly an expedition was' fitted out in 1749, which founded the city, and gave to it the name of its English patron. It at once became the capital of the province, and the principal naval ana military station of Great Britain in America, and, strongly fortified, was garrisoned by British troops till 1905, when Canada assumed full responsibility for its defcnce. The dockyard is one of the finest in the Empire. The town is built on the western side of the harbour, and extends along it about five and a half miles. Halifax is the eastern terminus of the Canadian Pacific railway. During the war it has become one of the busiest ports in the world. It is the outlet for practically all the Canadian and- a large proportion of American war supplies for Britain and France; and an enormous amount of now construction, particularly of facilities for dealing rapidly with vast quanties of cargo, has taken place there. GREAT' FIRE AT CANADIAN IRONWORKS SHIPBUILDING AFFECTED. (Rec. December 8, 1.30 a.m.) Ottawa, December 6. Poison's ironworks ,at Toronto, the largest >in Canada, aro on fire. For many months the company has been engaged fn building cargo ships and trawlers for the British Government. —Reuter.

GERMAN AUXILIARY CRUISER SUNK

STRUCK BY A MINE.

Copenhagen, December 6. A German auxiliary cruiser struck a German mine at the southern entrance of The Sound, and sank immediately. The fate of t.bo crew is unknown!— Aus.-N.Z., Cable Assn. (Rec. December 7, 7.45 p.m.) Copenhagen, December 6. The German auxiliary cruiser that was mined was the Botnic, which had previously been captured from the Russians.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

POLYGAMY IN GERMANY

PRESS DISCUSSES ITS "EVENTUAL NECESSITY. , ' New YorK, December 6. . The Hague correspondent of the Chicago "Daily News" states .that many German newspapers refer to polygamy as an eventual necessity- of the war. Pamphlets have been circulated in the German Army stating that polygamy will ■ be officially introduced in Germany as a means of getting a large army for the future.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

AN EXPRESS AIRSHIP

PARIS TO ALGIERS IN ELEVEN HOURS. (Rec. December 7, 6.45 p.m.)' Paris, December 6. A French airship journeyed from Paris to Algiers in eleven hours.— Aus.-N.Z. Cablo Assn.

VALUABLE COPRA STORES DESTROYED

Sydney, December 7. A fire destroyed copra valued at £25,000.at the Texas Oil Company's depot at Greenwich.—Press Assn.