VOLCANIC ERUPTION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 58, 9 March 1911, Page 8

VOLCANIC ERUPTION.

A DELUGE OF STONES AND MUD

A TIDAL WAVE

332 SHOCKS OP EARTHQUAKE

MANILA SINKING

[PJRESS ASSOCIATIfe.-'] (Received March 8, 9/50 p.m.) SYDNEY, March 8. Eastern files contain details of the ♦eruption of the volcano of Taal, situated in the centre of the Lake of Taal, 54 miles from Manila. The eruption .started at two o'clock on the morning of January 29th, simultaneously with two prolonged earthquakes.' All the towns within a radius of 20 miles suffered a deluge of stones and mud. The island of Taal sank several feet, and following the sinking a wave 4 feet high swept the shore within a radius of 4 miles, wrecking many louses.

The Manila Observatory reports that a remarkable electrical storm continued for two hours, with deafening thunder. Lava and stones belched from the crater 3000 feet high. The Observatory recorded 332 shocks of earthquake. The people in all directions abandoned their villages and fled to the hills in the interior.

The southern railroad was damaged with mud and the ashes covered the -tracks.

The authorities say that Manila is ■sinking. The Talsya district is partly submerged, an<T the crops are ruined. An American school teacher who "traversed the west shore of Lake Taal reported that five villages were destroyed by the tidal wave and 300 persons killed.