ETNA IN ERUPTION.

Otaki Mail, 22 June 1923, Page 4

ETNA IN ERUPTION.

j advancing wall of lava. 5 ENGULFS VILLAGES TO DEPTH OF j FIFTY FEET. THOUSANDS HOMELESS IN ITALY. ROME, June J'J. I After a brief period of inactivity • from eruption, Etna resumed last I night and to-day (several new craters have been formed, one being three I Kilometres in diameter. A vast molten wall of lava, two kilometres wide and 50 feet high, is moving towards Giarre, a town ol to,ooo i people, who are ready to leave for Riposto. . , , . Tlte village of Cazanita has already been destroyed. There is no longer any hope that Linguaglossa can escape. It. is now completely evacuated and the lava, is encroaching from all sides. , . . „ Thousands of people are homeless, : but extensive relief is being organised. I The King is going to Sicily. 1 1 A TITANIC UPHEAVAL. | LAVA FLOW SUBSIDING. ROME, June 20. Etna's outflow of lava has subsided slightlv, but the volume of smoke and vapour has increased. The whole sky is darkened. The villages of Palombara and Santo Spirito have been completely destroyed. Large cinders have fallen thirty "miles north-east of the volcano. , „ . One of the main branches of lata ha* reaehed the outskirts of Linguaglosaa. and Castiglione, but the stream • is moving slower and hope is entertained that, the towns will be spared. The King has arrived at Catania. FORESTS AND VILLAGES 1 OBLITERATED. CASCADE OP PURE. ROME, .June 19. The fury of the Mount Etna eruption in unabated. AH day the (low of Java is aided by new craters on tli c western slopes of the mountain, particularly by the caving in of the side of a crust or j tlic crater, which was active 45 years ago, and is three miles from j the central crater. i i The seriousness of tlic crisis i« j shown by the fact that Signor Alusso- j lini, who was at Florence, hurriedly , „ * returned to Rome to. organise relief, i while King Victor is taking a special | " ’ train en route to Sicily to lead the J rescue work on the spot. The ’ k ( eruption is a splendid, but terrible E Ir spectacle. Throughout southern I Italy the glow of the burning moun--3 tain can be seen, even from Naples, . which is two hundred miles away. The actual names shooting into tlie air can be scon from a distance of agility miles. Deafening reports, resembling tlie roar of great guns, can be heard all o.vcr the province. The horrible £ aspect of the disaster for the Sicilian; | is the continuous rain of cinders, | which ignite anything they touch. | ’i lius the forest of Castiglione was de- | strayed in a few hours. Molten lava a burned the roots of the trees, then the j names caught the branches until the ( desolation was complete, j Despite all tlie horrors of the visi-» I lation, tlie peasants in the threatened j districts are reluctant to leave their i homes. Thousands of the inhabitants of Linguaglossa and Castiglione J Iliad to be driven forcibly from their ] homes, as they refused to believe that 1 I death and destruction could be so I‘near, though the lava stream was at ' tlieir very gates, and the lirst house* crumbling in the path of the creeping lava. People, frenzied with fear, stayed praying in their churches, or brought out statues of tlic saints and placed them in the path of the oncoming lava, kneeling in roadways, while priests called upon Heaven to stem the awful flood. Every form of invocation was to be heard, and tlic j priests often had great difficulty in 1 ’ shepherding their f-harges back to V safety. V. In one case, the prayers seemed likely to be miraculously answered, when [the lirst houses in Liinouaglossa were tumbling before the lava llood. There seemed a chance that the town would be saved. By a strange freak, the lava stream divided into two arms. , the peasants insisted that this was ’ due to Saint Egidio, whose statue had | been carried to the stream. I The tow of Giarre had a terrible ■ experience. Frightened townsfolk had collected their few belongings and ® were on —c point of fleeing for their ’lives, when a rain of hot stones was tiling up from the crater. There was a rush for safety indoors, though some of the stones, which weighed over two pounds, were crashing through the roofs. When the rain of stones ceased, people fled to Riposto. Practically all the inhabitants of the threatened area are now aware of the danger of continuing near the erup- ~ don, and are trekking to tlie coast. 1 and the Messina roads are choked with a medley of homeless men, women, and children, carrying bundles and pushing hand-carts. -apart from the destruction of the towns, the countryside laid waste includes some of tlie finest and most fertile land in Sicily. Between Monte Rosso and Monte Roselle there is a plateau from which the lava dropped n sheer two hundred feet like a waterfail of tire into the wooded -country side below. The trees were quickly ablaze, and as the lava collected aaong the blazing timber, the place - looked like a lake of lire, fed by a J - cascade of burning lava. The course i of me lava is nearly the same as that taken in September, 1911, which wrecked the railway near Castiglione. Lava has already spread almost to the sea between Messina and Taormina. Villages between the mountain and the coast are obliterated. The wells for miles around Sit. Etna have dried up, and the heat is intense. During eruptions in recent years, j "sellers of ices and cooling drinks have j f made big profits, plying a tliri\ing /trade within a few hundred yards of ! the lava, stream and moving their J pitches as the lava advanced, but * there is nothing of this kind now. f Everyone is putting as much space ! between himself and Alt. Etna as is possible. rf European geologists, in discussing b the cause of the disaster, point out that along with the news from Mt. Etna comes a report of an earthquake ]in Rangoon. Both places lie along 1 the line of weakness which geologists oall Libbey's Circle. A STAFF OF LIFE. TOWNS FIGHT FOR HOLY RELIC. ROME, June 19. Tlie Government has despatched at' , full speed a squadron of aeroplanes to j approach Alt. Etna from the air and j ■ report on what steps can be taken ■ t« help the population. The Pope has sent a million lire to '

ihe relief missions. A strange episode occupied at Lin- j g-uaglossa. While people were carry- j ing- the staff of Saint Egido in pro- , cession, in the hope of staying the < flood of lava people from Castiglione marched to Linguaglossa in body and seized the staff, with the intention of carrying it for use in the miraculous preservation of their own town. A conllict followed, and became so seriious that the military were called in to separate the combatants. Meanwhile. the Bishop arrived, and took possession of the holy staff.