MISMANAGEMENT AT MESSINA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3165, 16 April 1909, Page 3

MISMANAGEMENT AT MESSINA.

Writing nearly two months aff r I the earthquake that laid low Moa- ! sina, Reggio, and other towns of 1 Sicily and Calabria, the Rome correspondent of the London "Times" noted with dismay how little had been done to relieve Buffering in comparison with what might have been cone. Six weeks after the disaster the special correspondent of "The Times" hud written that in one sense much was being done in Messina, but in another sense practically nothing. Excavation work was being carried on in absolutely haphazard manner. Ten da\o after the San Francisco disaster, the people of that American city had electric trams running, and the principal streets illuminated, and in another few days a brisk business was being done. In Messina, according to the special correspondent, the few in- ' habitants who remained looked on ! hopelessly while officials gave and ' countermanded orders, discussed a ! thousand schemes, and overlooked the most obvious necessities. The ' plight, of the outlying villages was ! awful. Though the disaster was I weeks ago, some placas were receiving hardly any assistance. During the first month none of the Italian officials at Messina had been near Camari, only 40 minutes' walk from , the city. Relief was hampered at every step by the Italian lack of organising power, the evils of overcentralisation, and red tape. Clothing sent to Naples for the victims of the Calabrian earthquaKe of 1905 was sstiil in stjre, and all attempts to induce the officials to give it out for the relief of the present sufferers • had failed. The Rome correspondent, writing a fortnight plater than this despatch, reported that the situation ■ was much the same. Both correi spondents acquitted those responsible I for relief of any suspicion of dis- | honesty, but were emphatic in charg- ! ing them with mismanagement. The . central committee at Rome, which i ivas responsible for most ot the I money collected in Italy and abroad, I were dealing out money with regretj table caution. Instead of devoting | the bulk of it to immediately re--1 ief, and the prevention of unnecessary suffering, they concentrated their attention on providing for the future. To reach the scores Jof stricken villages in the interior re- : quired a generous outlay of money j and an extensive organisation, i neither of which was forthcoming. 1 Apparently, if it had not been for foreign relief organisation on the spot villages in the interior would have received no succour at all. And now, over three months after the disaster, ; the King of Italy finds Messina in a ! deplorable condition, without water, itjht, or sanitation. I