GREAT FIRE AT CANTON.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9391, 10 March 1909, Page 5

GREAT FIRE AT CANTON.

MANY LIVES LOST. United Press Association. —By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. Received March 10, 9.35 a.m. Sydney, March 10. The Port Darwin mail brings details of a terrible conflagration on the flower boats on the Pearl river, near Canton. Nearly all the boats were consumed, causing the'.loss of 1000 lives. The majority were drowned. It occurred on a Saturday night when many parties were being given by the Mandarins, and the wildest panic prevailed. Hundreds of people seemed to be jumping into the water to save themselves from the fire and in this way many were saved, but over 200 charred corpses were discovered np to Sunday afternoon. It is apparent that the boats were heavily laden with humanity, and it is said that many Mandarins are among those burnecj. Ten bankers and a number of prominent business men are among the victims. The fire is supposed to have originated through the falling of a kerosene lamp.