Page 4 Advertisements Column 2

Patea Mail, Volume I, Issue 1, 24 October 1887, Page 4

THE BDLLI DISASTER. AN URGENT APPEAL ON BEHALF OF 50 WIDOWS ANDJSO ORPHANS. AS e. disaster that took place at the • Belli Colliery on the 23rd March laet the moat appalling that has ever happened in Australia, it it to be Loped ihef a calamity so unparalleled in our colonial history, although occurring in New South Wales, wil cll forth a national response af pra sympathy for (he widows and orpha deprived ol (heir breadwinners by that terrible circumstance. Of upwards of eighty men n.id youth* in the mine when the fearful explosion took place, not one was left to tell the awful iale of their terrible death. Host of the ill-fated men were married, and, therefore, leave sorrowing widow* and many helpless children—numberintogether about TWO HUNDRED. And. painfully sad as it is to relate, that Inrg* total will be increased within the nt«x few months by ABOOT thirty orphans tki UNBORN. Kegarding the straitened, as well assaiu circumstances in which these widows an< orphans are plaapd, it need only be men tinned that at the time of the* disastei work had been resumed at the colliery only a few w*eks after a six months’ strike, by which the miners lost all ano gained nothing. And married men only, having been re-employed after the strike, causes the number of widow* and orphan* to be greater in proportion to the lost than under ordinary circumstances would be the Case. In fact, the victims of the disaster were cut off under peculiarly distressing cir cnrnslances ns well as in a terrible manner all being men either whose means hao become exhausted during the strike or whose waul of means and inability lo obtain any oilier employment caused then, to go to work in the colliery. These sni facts tell their own pitiful lalo concerning the position of the widows and orphans, who as a body, it is ydftasing here to state, arc MOST RESPECTABLE.

Altogether, considering (he melancholy cause lor the RuLLI Relief Fund more* nicnt, and (lie If&'ge number-of widow* and orphans overtaken by such desolating ruin, the crushing effects of their position must ho bitterly felt by them for many long years, unless assistance of a most generous character he extended to them. It is fervent 1)' to be hoped, therefore, that united and individual action for the raising of the sat I fund to a total amount somewhat equal to the magnitude of the requirements of the occasion will he taken moot heartily and effectively all over the Australian colonies. In considering the sad position of these FIFTY widows, let it he borne in mind that the earnings of their FIFTY DFAD HUSBANDS, at the low average of £2 per week, would amount to a total of £5200 hj year, £15,(500 for three years, £2(5,000 for live years, or £52,000 for ten years. Al! these ojurnings have been losi to them in * iifoment, and now (hey an I their 150 olirilAN CHILD KEN aro dependent upon the puMic for support. Think of this sad fact, yo more fortunateJy situated men and women all over tho Australian colonies, and of your kind sympathy and benevolence lend a liberal helping hand to these your bereaved and distressed fallow creatures. You cannot dry their tears, or restore to them their lost ones, but, by contributing toward the Relief Fund, you will binding os husbands to the widows an-.' fathers to the fatherless by providing means of living for them. The need is icreat, but if all in these colonics, who aave Hearts to feel for others woes, giro toward the Fund according to their menus, the wants of those in such need will bo supplied to a very considerable *ixtent. And whatever sums may be contributed toward the Relief Fund should he forwarded with tiro least possible delay, as although tiro widows and orphans will be dependent upon the public for years to come, subscriptions in aid of their wants will he certain to cease after a comparatively brief period from the present. It cannot be, however, that this APPEAL shall have hecn made in vain, or that it will bo inadequately responded to, urged, as it is, on the broad ground of our common humanity by so many widowed women and orphaned children, for whom iheir DEAD husbands and fathers now plead, as it were, with the “ eloquence of lire grave.” The Committee of which tho gentlemen whose names are hereto attached are Treasurers was formed at Woolpngonu (the chief town of the district in which the disaster occurred) immediately after tho terrible event.

Pits- ns not subscribing toward this urgently required Fund ihroughany local committee in their own localities, or in any other way more desirable to them selves, can do so by addressing their kind contributions ciin«i to me Central Committee in Sydney, the Branch Committee at Bulli (eight miles from Woolongong), or to W. J. POULTER. Mayor of Wollongong, A, A. TURNER, Police Magistrate, Joint Treasurers, Woolongong Branch Bulli Relief Fund. Town Hell, Woolongong, N.S.W., April 6th, 1887. CHARLES POTTsT Carp enter, Joiner, & Builder. BEGS to thank the inhabitants «f Patca and surrounding districts for their past support, and while soliciting a eonlinnancr for the future, assures all who may favour him with.orderß that the attention will be prompt, his workmanship good, and his charges to meet the times, strictly moderate. Jobbing work, town or country. Address : Cambridge street. .NOTICE. vtRS JACOMB desires to notify to JyX her many friends that* she has opened business in her premises. EG MONT - STREET, with a large, ami well selected stock of Lir:as* and Childrens’ Linkii Drapery, Fancy Goods, Em, Etc. Of which she invites inspection. Madame WVige’.V' ent nut patterns procured on application. Needlework done on the premises *)n the shortest notice. MRS. JACOMB Kpinont-stre t, hj ch: 1 } 0; j»o»ite the !. buri •> cum*.