THE HURRICANE IN THE WEST INDIES.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XIII, Issue 548, 3 February 1868, Page 4

THE HURRICANE IN THE WEST INDIES.

A iiAEQB and influential meeting was held in the Guildhall, Southampton, on the 25th November, for the purpose of taking measures for the relief of the the large number of widows and orphans who have been left in that town totally destitute of the means of subsistence, in consequence of the late disasters in the West Indies, but more es pecially in connection with the loss of the Rhone and Wye. The Mayor (Mr J. R. Stebbing) presided, and among those present were Captain Mangles, Chairman of the Royal Steam Packet Company ; the Right Hon. Russell Gurney, Q.C., Deputy Chairman of the Company; one of the members for the borough ; Major-General Wilbrabam, and Admiral Hands. The Mayor, in opening the meeting, read the following communication which he had received from Colonel Riddulph, dated Windsor Castle, 24th November : It being understood that a general subscription is about to be raised for the benefit of the widows land orphans and others resident in the United I Kingdom, who were dependent on those who vm!happily lost their lives in the late disastrous hurjricane in the West indies, I am c-umiuatided by | the Queen to inform yon, as Mayor of Southamp”Iton, in which town the misfortune will be more J generally felt than elsewhere, that her Majesty, j deeply commiserating those who have been thus deprived of their matires and of their means of [support, desires to subscribe £2OO to the fund.

The Mayor then proceeded to say it had j bean felt that, in consequence of the cala= mity being so widespread, only a national subscription could meet it, and, under those circumstances, it had been suggested that relief should be extended to every British subject in the United Kingdom who was a sufferer through the disasters.

The Hight Hon. Eussell Gurney, M.P., moved a resolution in conformity with these views, which was unanimously adopted by the meeting, and a subscription list was thereupon opened, ana realised upwards of £1,500 —among the subscribers being Mr G. Moffat, 100 guineas : Right Hon. Russell Gurney, 50 guineas; Engineers of the Peninsular and Oriental Com pany (first instalment) 100 guineas. Captain Mangles said he could not now announce a subscription on behalf of the Royal Mail Company, but there would be a meeting of the board of directors on Wednesday, when he should strive to set a good example to his colleagues, and he had no doubt that the sura forwarded to the Mayor would be quite satisfactory to those who had already subscribed so liberally. Other resolutions were adopted, and the meeting concluded with three cheers for the Queen,