THE ERUPTIONS AT MARTINIQUE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIV, Issue 111, 17 May 1902, Page 3

THE ERUPTIONS AT MARTINIQUE.

tfUHTHER CALAMITY FEARED. SUQGKSTKD ABANDONMENT OF ST. VINCENT. PBR PBBSS ASSOCIATION. New York, May 14. Military are guarding the town of St. Pierre to deter pirates visiting from the neighbouring islands. Three luminous points on the lower slopes of Mont Pelee presage a further calamaty. Forty thousand pounds' worth of jewnllery has recovered from the S r . Pierre Bank. Five Creoles and a white man were atrwied with thoir pockets full of coins and jewellery stolen from the de>d. The Colonial Secretary of Jamaica thinks Great Britain should deport the population of St. Yincent and abandon the island.

President Sam, of Ilayti, has taken refuge on a French steamer, London, May 15,

Mr Chamberlain, at the request of the Lord Mayor of London, has opened a fund in aid of the bt. Vincent sufferers.

Mr Vanderbilt, Mr Gould, and other millionaires are sending their yachts with provisions. The Paris newspaper, le Temps, states that 100,000 people in Martinique need help. The American Congress vote includes help for St, Vincent.

The Canediai. Parliament has voted fifty thousand dollars for Martinique and St. Vincent.

Tt.e kola of the northern part of St. Vincent is a travelling fire. The volcano is invisible, but imni! nsi ba'ls of coloured fires are issuing from the crater.

The town clock of St. Pierre is in- ' tact. It stopped at 7.50 on the evening of the disaster.

i It is believed that the victims of Martinique include Behanzen, ex-King | of Dahomey. ' LATEST NEWS FROM THE BUENE OF I THE DISASTER. Received 16,10.15 p.m. New Yoke, May 16. San Friere's eruption is vastly the | most extensive. A lake at the summit ; has disappeared, and sea in the vicinity i is transformed into a boiling cauldron. | Lava has pollard the stream, and the water is u drink 'ole. Many people are dying of thirst and etaivation. Countless bodies are floating in the sta.

It is impossible to approach within eight milt sot San Friere. St. Vincent is covered with a peculiar mist, and noxious vapours are causing much illness.

There is a terrible stench in the Carib country, where a tribe has been aueihilat'-d.

Gr-at i!a> kness prevails on tbe island of St. Kit's, though the extinct volcano there is quiescent. The Governor of Martinique and his family, with l*rge numbers of other residents of St. Pierre, were attending a thanksgiving service in the Cathedral whe-n th>-y were overwhelmed. Huge (W's, fed with pe'roleum and tar, art b.ing utilised for cremating thousands tf dead. The men employ td in searching amongst the cinders stepped upon what appeared to be a pillar of scone, but it,was found to be a charred corpse. A nogro murderer who was imprisoned ur.der ground, escaped the pois' nrus pasts and flames, and wben rescued after four days fled to the wood i-.

Tie troops have received orders to shoot all robbers deaf).

RELIEF FUNDS. Received 16 10.38 p.m. London, May 16. Iu the House of Commons M.r Balfour gratefully acknowledged President Rposi'Vkli's < ffer to shai e in the r.ork of aiding nnd nscuing victims at St. Vincent. He stated the Governor of the Windward Islandswas authorised to expend r was necessary on rc-li- f. The Batk of England has subscribed £IOOO t > 'he t. Vi> c->i>t fund, the Kii.g £4OO, and the L ndon Corporation i' 525.