THE LATEST.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 113, 14 May 1902, Page 5

THE LATEST.

THIRTY THOUSAND LIVES LOST FIFTY THOUSAND PEOPLE HOMELESS. HELP URGENTLY NEEDED. (Received 9.2 a.m-) NEW YORK, May 13.

A thousand refugees have arrived at Lecarbet and Case Pilote. i The French cruiser Suchet and the Danish cruiser Valkyrie rescued four thousand people at Leprecheur. The American Consul at Guadaloupe confirms the news that thirty thousand people lost their lives. Fifty thousand are rendered homeless. The French Government has informed President Roosevelt that the whole •(>!' Martinique is still menaced, and has requested assistance to remove the survivors. Exploring parties are cremating the dead at St. Pierre. Many children were found locked in one another's arms. Apparently many victims were overwhelmed before they were conscious of their danger. Numbers were found naked, their clothes having been torn off in their efforts to protect their faces from the fire. Food supplies are exhausted and the inhabitants are dependant on outside aid. lit is feared that thousands are starving in the country districts. King Edward has cabled his sympathy with the sufferers at St. Vincent.

The following are some additional particulars from a recent publication concerning the unfortunate island of Martinique:—"The range which forms the backbone of the island, culminating in the north-west in Mont. Pelee (4430 feet), and has altogether a much more irregular and strongly marked relict" than it presents to the eye—the deep ravines and precipitous escarpments with which it abounds being reduced in appearance to gentle undulations by the drapery of the forests. Of the numerous streams which traverse the few miles of country between the watershed and the sea, about seventy or eighty are of considerable size, and in the rainy season become deep and too often destructive torrents. The east coast of the island, exposed to the full sweep of the Atlantic, is a succession of inlets, headlands, islands, and rocks; the south coast is much more rcgu^r, but bold and steep, and the west alone presents, in the Bay of Fort de France, a stretch of mangrove swamp. Martinique has enjoyed a remarkable immunity from hurricanes. Since the earthquake of 1539 all the houses have been built of wood, and have only one storey. On the island in 1899 there were 20 sugai- works and 112 rum distilleries. The imports that year amounted to 27,004,520 francs (13,-230,72<i francs from France), and the exports to 20,003,147 francs (24,212,270 francs to France)."'