THE JAMAICA EARTHQUAKE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8335, 18 January 1907, Page 5

THE JAMAICA EARTHQUAKE.

INMATES OF A HOSPITAL KILLED. SHOCKS STILL CONTINUE. Received January 17, 9.30 a.m. LONDON, January 17. Mr Winston Churchill announces that the camp hospital at Kingston has been destroyed, killing thirty people and injuring three hundred. Telegraphists are operating a new connection cable eight miles from Kingston. The Royal Mail superintendent, Captain Constantine and Captain Young, who was in command of the steamer Arno, were killed. The shocks continue, but most of the wires are working. Visitors are leaving the town. The fires have been almost extinguished. The Colonial Bank was burned, but the books and the cash were saved. It is believed that the soldiers killed at the camp hospital were natives. ASSISTANCE FOR THE SUFFERERS. Received January 17, 9.30 a.m. LONDON, January 17. The cruisers Brilliant and Indefatigable are proceeding to Kingston to assist the Royal Mail steam packet in distributing food. The American Red Cross Society is also sending assistance. BRITISH PREMIER'S CONDOLENCES. Received January 17, 8.40 a.m. ] ; LONDON, January 16. Sir HeWy Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister, on behalf of the Government, has sent condolences to the authorities at Jamaica. NEGROES LOOTING THE RUM SHOPS. FIVE HUNDRED PEOPLE RE- ' PORTED TO BE KILLED. FORTY-FIVE SOLDIERS BURNT TO DEATH. Received January 17, 11.15 p.m. LONDON, January 17. It is reported that an extinct volcano at Portland Point, Jamaica, is showing signs of activity., No news has been received from the interior. Inland communication is very difficult, The Press Association's representatives with Sir Alfred Lewis Jones' party state that several additional shocks and fires were experienced on Tuesday.; Negroes are looting the rum shops. At least'five h uridred people haye been killed. Forty-five invalid soldiers were burnt to death in the military hospital. SA FAMINE IMMINENT, MISERY INDESCRIBABLE!. " MANY PEOPLE - BURNED IN THE SMOULDERING RUINS. Received January 17,9.33 p.m. LONDON, January 17 v Everybody is warned away from Kingston. The stench is aw ari d a famine is imminent. "AH the shops have be^ n destroyed. The banks have burned, but the vaults are suppled to be safe. The misery is indescribable. Many are buried in the smouldering rains% PANIC SUBSIDING. ,_ Received January 17, 9.50 p.m. v LONDON, January '17. The injured soldiers at Kingston are chiefly natives. Major. Hardyman is amongst the seriously hurt. *The latest American accounts indicate that the panic is subsiding. The Kingston harbour has been closed to shipping. The nature of the obstruction is not stated. The natives at first were tod frightened to flee, many perishing in the falling houses. When the shocks continued they fled, screaming with terror, to the hills, yelling, "The end of the world has come!" The black preachers followed the refugees, exhorting them to repent. Many did not stop till they reached Holland Bay. Sir James Fergusson was DeputyChairman of the Royal Mail Com-1 panyi . ! 'MOST OF, THE HOUSES IN THE CITY DESTROYED. FIRE COMPLETES THE DESTRUCTION. ONE HUNDRED PEOPLE KILLED. ONE THOUSAND INJURED. MESSAGE OF SYMPATHY FROM THE KING AND QUEEN. Received January ,17, 9.23 p.m. LONDON, January 17. Sir Alfred Jones telegraphs that all the houses within a radius of ten ' miles of Kingston are damaged. Most of the houses in the city were destroyed, and fire completed the destruction. It is estimated that a hundred people were killed, and a thousand in jure'd. V The public offices and hospitals are -ruined: Sir James Fergusson and many prominent merchants and pro-* fessional men and a great many natives were killed. The business quarters are'ruined: King Edward and Queen Alexandria have, telegraphed to the

CABLE NEWS.

x By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.

Governor, Sir J. A. Swettenham, their horror at the terrible catastrophe and deep sympathy with the sufferers. Received January 17, 9.23 p.m. HAVANA, January 17. The American warships Missouri and Indiana , and the destroyer Whipple, with Admiral Evans, are hastening from Cuba to Kingston; also two provision supply vessels attached to the American Atlantic fleet. DAMAGE ESTIMATED AT £2,000,000 to £3,000,000. THOUSANDS OF NATIVES HOMELESS. Received January 17, 11.25 p.m. NEW YORK, January 17. The Kingston correspondent of the New York Herald states that Mr Henniker Heaton estimates the deaths to number from 500 to 1,000. Many others confirm the latter figures. . The damage is estimated at £2,000,000 to £3,000,000. Owing to the destruction of the asylum, many lunatics are at large. Thousands of homeless natives are living on bananas and sleeping in the streets. Eight hundred of the principal buildings, including churches, banks, public offices and warehouses are in ruins, The Ships in the harbour slipped their anchors and proceeded to sea, escaping the centre of the shock. Much lighter tremors were felt at Bull Bay, a distance of ten miles away. The earthquake was scarcely felt at Holland Bay. FLAGS HALF-MAST. Received January 18, 1.12 a.m. SYDNEY, January 17. . The Orient Steamship Company's flags/ are flying half-mast for Sir James Fergusson. WELLINGTON, Jan. 17. Captain Fergusson, R.N., son of Sir James Fergusson , ex-Governor of New • Zealand, to-day received a cable message confirming the news of the death of his father at Kingston, Jamaica. ' DUNEDIN, January 16. The Premier has forwarded, through the Governor, a cable to the Governor of Jamaica, expressing the sympathy of New Zealand with the people of Kingston in the terrible disaster that has befallen them.