MUCH EXAGGERATED.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 16, 19 January 1914, Page 5

MUCH EXAGGERATED.

SAKTJKA SHIMA ERUPTION. TWO HUNDRED LIVES LOST. (Times-Sydney Sun Special Cable.) LONDON, January 17. The exaggeration contained in the re : ports of the damage caused by the Japanese earthquake is causing a great deal of comment, says the "Times" correspondent. It is officially announced that ODly 10 have been killed and, 17 injured at Kagoshima. Volcanic ashes lie 3ft in depth over the whole town. All the animals about were burnt where they stood. The death-roll of the inhabitants does not exceed 200, * the villagers having had time to escape before their houses were overwhelmed by the lava streams. One woman retnrned to rescue her baby. She snatched it up and carried it to the train, which she boarded after a fierce struggle. On arriving at a place of safety she found it was not her baby. Distress at the discovery drove her insane. Eye-witnesses describe the struggles of the panic-stricken refugees at the railway stations as being like -wolves fighting for food.

OFFICIAL FIGURES.

i(Kecerwd 11 aJn.) LONDON, January 18. The officials at the Japanese Embassy state that half the houses on the island of Sakura Shima were destroyed. It is believed that all the inhabitants except 200 escaped. Twenty-four people were killed or wounded at Kagoshima.

BREAKS OUT AGAIN.

REFUGEES IN TEBBOB. BLINDING ASH CLOUDS. (Received 2 p.m.) TOKYO, January 18. ■ The eruption on Saturn Shima Island has recommenced with violence. The town of Kagoshima, on the main land, is covered with clouds of blinding ash. Many of the inhabitants who had fled arid returned, are leaving again in terror.