CONDITIONS IN JAPAN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18999, 23 October 1923, Page 9

CONDITIONS IN JAPAN.

THE EARTHQUAKE DISASTER. PANIC CAUSES MANY MURDERS. Ppmu Association—Ev V'elegmph —Copyright TOKIO, October 19. Evidence is coming in on every side of the widespread massacres of the innocent during and after the earthquake excitement in the suburbs of Tokio. As many as 100 persons were slain at a time, including women. The killers wore volunteer police who became crazed by the excitement. There were instances in which police who were protecting the refugees became the object of mob attacks. It is officially announced that the army earthquake losses total 182,000,000 yen. Reuter. MEMORIAL SERVICE. CEREMONY AT HONJO DEPOT; TOKIO, October 20. (Special to the Australian Press Association.) Forty-nine days have elapsed since the earthquake and fire. In order to mark the occasion a great memorial service was held in the grounds of the military depot in the Honjo district, where nearly 58,000 people \v;ho sought shelter were burned to death. In the grounds there were nearly 200,000 people, many of them relatives of those lost m the disaster. These passed before a shrine, behind which are the bones and ashes of the dead. This shrine and others in the devastated districts had wonderfully line displays of chrysanthemums and dahlias sent from various districts. The official ceremony was opened when the Prefoctural Governor, the Mayor and officials, and Viscount Goto on behalf of the Prime Minister (Count Yanxagoto) read addresses to the dead. —A. and N.Z, Cable. OFFICIAL DEATH-ROLL. 150,000 PERSONS KILLED. TOKIO. October 20. Viscount Goto announces that it is officially known that the death-roll in the earthquake and fires totalled 150,000, while the persons suffering damage to property number 2,874,000. Altogether 554,000 houses were destroyed.—A. and N.Z. Cable. MRS HAWKES RETURNING HOME. HER WONDERFUL ESCAPE. THURSDAY ISLAND, October 22. The Arapura has arrived ‘with Mrs Hawkes (mother of the Australian Davis Cup player) and her son as passengers. They declined an interview', the son explaining that his mother was greatly distressed at the loss of her husband, especially since she learned by cable while on the ship that his remains had been found in the ruins at Tokio. Mrs Hawkes was having a bath at the top of the Grand Hotel when the first shock came to the city. Her husband, who was on the ground floor, was buried in the crumpled building. Mrs Hawkes was deposited in the roadway, still in the bath, but unhurt. —A. and N.Z. Cable.

HOMELESS AND DESTITUTE. SUFFERINGS OF CHRISTIAN FAMILIES. (Per United Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, October 20. Archbishop Julius received the following cablegram from the mission authorities in Tokio:—“Appreciate your sympathy. Wa have lost 17 churches and SO workers. Four hundred and fifty Christian families are homeless. They have lost everything. Intense spiritual and physical suffering is before us- ”

NEW ELECTORAL LAW. VOTING PRIVILEGES EXTENDED. TOKIO, October 19. A committee of five Ministers, headed by Viscount Goto, will draft a manhood suffrage recommendation to the Government which will probably be enacted this coming session. It- opens the ballot to males 25 years of age with no property. No other qualifications are necessary. Every elector will be eligible for office. It abolishes many of the restrictive qualifications in the election of peel’s. —Sydney Sun Cable.