The Star. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1901. A RIGHTEOUS OBJECT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7257, 19 November 1901, Page 2

The Star. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1901. A RIGHTEOUS OBJECT.

It does not need any great effort of imagination to realise that the suffering caused by the earthquake at Cheviot must be very great. The graphic accounts supplied by the newspaper correspondents in that district indicate only too plainly the nature of the losses sustained by the settlers there, and the amount of inconvenience and alarm of which they have been the victims. Some are homeless, and not a few, there is reason to believe, are to all intents and purposes ruined. Many aire ■urgmtly in need 'of assistance. Their immediate wants have been supplied by kind ' and liberal neighbours, but it is obvious that something more must be done for them. The Government will, of course, bear its share of their losses, and will take care that, in the long run, they lose as little as possible. But the Government cannot do everything. It is between the point of temporary assistaince lent «n tlhe spdb and tlhe ultimate one of State aid that the private holpeira can intervene. Th» latter cam do muohi by tmouiiataxy subsoniptionß, and 1 by various o'tflier nueams, to lighten thre^ burdlen imposed by tlhe disaster, and to show their practical sympathy with the sufferers. Already subscription lists have been opened at the office of this paper and at other business places in Christchurch. Already, too, the citizens of the other centres have forwarded messages of sympathetic interest in the welfare of the settlers, and have expressed a desire to help them in their distress. From these indications there is every reason to hope that not only the citizens of Christchurch,' and the country, folk of Canterbury, but the people of the colony generally are determined that the sufferings of the little community shall be relieved as quickly and as completely as possible.