ETNA'S ERUPTION.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 146, 21 June 1923, Page 5

ETNA'S ERUPTION.

LAVA FLOW DECREASES TOWNS MAY BE SAVED. STREAMS MOVE MORE SLOWLY SMOKE AND VAPOUR INCREASE [By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright.) (deceived 10 n.m.l ROME, June 20. Etna's outflow of lava lias subsided slightly, but the volume of smoke and vapour has increased, the whole sky being darkened. The villages of Palomba and Santos Spirito have been completely destroyed, and large cinders have fallen 30 miles north-east of the volcano. One of the main branches of lava has reached the outskirts of Lingualosa and Castiglione, but the stream is moving slower, and hope is entertained that the towns will be spared. The King has arrived in Catania.— (A. and N.Z. Cable.) BAIN OF HOT CINDERS. A CASCADE OF FIRE. VILLAGES OBLITERATED. KQJfE, June 20. The fury of the eruption of Etna showed no sign of abatement to-day. The flow of lava is aided by new craters on the ■western elopes, particularly by the caving in of the side cruet of the crater which was active 45 years ago, tbree miles from the central crater. The eeriouEness of the situation is shown by the announcement that the Prime Minister, Signor Mussolini, who was in Florence, has hurriedly returned 'to Home to organise relief. The eruption is a splendid but terrible spectacle throughout Southern Italy. The glow of the burning mountain can he seen from Naples, which is 200 miles away, and the actual flames shooting into the air can be seen at a distance of 80 miles. Deafening reports, resembling the roar of great guns, can be heard all over the province. The horrible aspect of the disaster for Sicilians is the continuous rain of cinders, which ignite anything they touch. Thus the forest of Castiglione was destroyed in a few hours. The molten lava burnt the roots of trees and then flames caught the branches until the desolation was complete. I-OBCIBLY DRIVEN OUT. When the people became frenzied with fear they stayed praying in their churches or brought out statues of saints and placed them in the path of the oncoming lava, kneeling in the roadway ■while priests called upon heaven to stem the awful flood. Every form of invocation and prayer was to be heard, and the priests-often had the greatest difficulty in ehepherding their charges back to iafety. In one case the pTayers seemed likely to be miraculously answered. When the Sret" houses of Lingualosa were tumbling into the lava flood there seemed to be a chance that the town would be saved. By a strange freak the lava stream divided into two arms. Peasants insisted that this was due to Saint Egidio, whose statue had been carried to the stream. The town of Giarre had a terrible experience. The frightened townsfolk had collected a few belongings, and were on the point of fleeing for their lives when a rain of hot stones flung up from the crater fell. There was a rush for safety Indoors, though some of the stones, ■which weighed over 21b, came crashing through roofs. When the rnin of stones ceased, the people fled to Riposto. TREK TO THE COAST. .Practically all the inhabitants in the threatened area are now aware of the danger of continuing near the eruption, and are trekking to the coast and Messina. The roads are choked with a med-ley-of homeless men, women, and children carrying bundles and pushing handcarfs. "Apart from the destruction of towns, the countryside laid waste includes some of the most fertile land in Sicily. Between Mount Rosso and Mount Roselle there is a miniature plateau from which lava dropped a sheer 200 ft like a waterfall of fire into the wooded countryside below. The trees were quickly ablaze, and , as the lava collected among the blazing timber the place looked like a lake of fire fed by a cascade of burning lava. ' The course of the lava is nearly the same as that in September, 1911, which ■wrecked the railway near Castiglione. The lava has already spread almost to the sea, and villages between the mountain andthe coast are obliterated. for miles around the mountain nave been dried up and the heat is intense. During eruptions in recent years seller of ices and cooling drinks made big profits, and plied a thriving trade ■within a few hundred yards of the lava ftTeam, moving their pitches as the lava advanced, but there is nothing of this kind now. Everyone is putting as much space between himself and Etna as possible. European geologists, discussing the cause of the disaster, point out that along with the news from Etna comes a report of an earthquake at Rangoon. Bothplaces lie along the line of weakness which geologists call Libbey's Circle. Giarre, which is now reported to be threatened with destruction by the eruption of Etna, is a town of 15,000 inhabitants near the foot of the western slope °f Etna, about 17 miles from the main crater and three miles from the coast. The latest news indicates that two Main torrents of lava are descending from Etna. One, moving in a north-west-erly direction, is advancing on Lingualosa, and the other, moving due west, is threatening Giarre. ; A strange episode of the Etna eruption » reported from Lingualosa. While t!»e people were carrying the staff of St. in procession in the hope that it *ould stay the flood of lava, the people °* Castiglione marched to Lingualosa | n a body and seized the staff, with tlm Mention of enrryinc* if fnr ii=p ii tlic'r ow n town. The' conflict that followed yasi so serious that military were called >n .o separate the combatants-' Mean- . !le tllc bishop arrived and took posses. Men of the holy staff. 'Hp Government has dispatched a gquttciron of aeroDlanea to approach Etna , ; rnn J " l(, a »" mid report wlint stops can Tl p *° M]l (liP !""- ,ati " ,nll- -,. P r™ has son; I.nofi.oon lire for ;- :cf ra'srions.—(A. and X.Z. Cable.)