RESTORING ORDER

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 8 September 1923, Page 7

RESTORING ORDER

LARGE QUANTITIES OF FOOD SUPPLIES

HALF A MILLION DEAD

VX CIBL2— PaESB ABHOCIATION— COPraiGH3 NEW YORK, Sept. 6. The Osaka correspondent of tne New \©rk Times says order in Tokio and is gradually being restored, i»ut shelter, provisions, clothing, carts And lorries are extremely scarce. Troops are concentrated in and around the cities, and precautions are being taken against outbreaks of lawlessness.

Half a million refugees are encamped about the Imperial Palace in Tokio. Refugees wait many hours in a line two miles long to get one piece of rioehsdL Parents wander about the streets calling the names of their lost children, while others are carrying placards with their names written on them. The troops are constructing shacks, of which the Government has decided to fcuild 12,000.

Profiteering is severely punished when discovered, but enormously high prices are being paid for food. There as a great shortage of, petrol, and motor traffic has almost ceased. Fears ©f $ financial collapse in Japan were at first? entertained, but, they are not borne out. . OSAKA, Sept. 5. ■ Supplies -ar*-. now reaching Tokio in large quantities and the danger of steiv vation is over.

National attention is focussed oh meetings of the emergency Cabinet, which are held tAvice daily. Yesterday it- was decided to care for 15.000 wounded in the army barracks. The iioarest city (Chib.a) prefecture is erecting tents and barracks for troops, which are eating biscuit rations, and supplying 50,000 homeless Avith airmy '"Iriseuits.

The Governor of Nagano, whence *omea 90 per cent, of the silk, telegraphed to the Kobe Chamber of Comineroe to establish immediately a silk Inspection bureau. Kobe merchants have created a bureau-to keep foreign trade going, deciding to accept storage of cargoes en route to Yokohama.

The directors, of Osaka and Kobe fire companies announce that the (responsibility for the damage will not be shouldered in justice to other policy Ijolders. They state the premium of Japanese companies are not high, like foreign companies, and it may be decided to pay them. , _ The Chamber of Commerce has decided against a moratorium, advising merchants and banks to reach a mutual understanding. Cotton operators admit that the recovery of the industry is impossible, for six months at least are required to replace the spindles and rebuild the factories. One-third of the twisted thread factories were destroyed.-—S-un Service.

NEW YORK, Sept. 6. The Iwaka correspondent of the New York Times says to-day's advices from the devastated area in Japan place the dead at half a million. This is considered probably a more correct figure than the earlier estimate.

The Tokio correspondent of the United Press states that merciful rain has descended upon the city enveloping the wreckage in clouds of ste#m and causing the fire to . finally die down, thus permitting rescue work to proceed in more orderly fashion. The relief bureau- has decided to erect tents for refugees from outlying villages on the rUßilperial Palace grounds until rebuilding can begin. ■ ~ Meantime, the first connected story of the disaster has become available. Immediately folloAvirig the first 'quake fires1 started in fifteen places simultaneously,' and thousands of alarmed natives rushed towards the river, crowding on a bridge, which collapsed under the weight, causing many to droAA-n. As Saturday and Sunday passed the fires continued, and the smell of burn«d human.-flesh penetrated the air.

TOiViO, Sept. 7. A most dramatic installation of the Japanese Premier took place on the lawn in front of the Akasaka Palace, while the fire was raging and the earth trembling with -recurrent sEocks. The party dared not enter the palace, owing to the danger of its collapse, but, in the presence of the Prince Regent, the Piremier (Yamamoto) and members of the new Cabinet took their oaths and turned to the great tasks before them. To-day a semblance of order prevails. Slender, hollow-cheeked youths walk the streets carrying big Japanese swords, aiding the police in the relief work and assisting in the search for and identification of bodies. Nevertheless the survivors cannot believe that they are safe, many fearing to lie down lest, in their sleep, they should be overtaken by a new death-deal^ig 'quake. Only complete exhaustion Has stilled the 'wandering throne, which. otherwise, continue their endless pilgrimage in seeking to escape.