CARIBBEAN DISASTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2516, 4 June 1902, Page 25

CARIBBEAN DISASTER.

* • THE RELIEF FUNDS. MONT PELE STILL ACTIVE. FOUR IMMENSE CAVITIES. NEW YORK, May 27. There are four new and active craters on La Soufriere, St. Vincent. Twelve square miles of country have ■ been devastated. ' May 28. There was an eruption of Mont Pele on Monday night. Black clouds were visible over Fort de France, accompanied by lightning. A heavy surf was running at .the time, and subsequently a yellow cloud hung over the vicinity of Pele. ' A heavy rain, which fell at St. Vincent, has exposed the corpses in their . graves. May 29. George Kennan, an American explorer, with a journalistic companion, who started to explore Mont Pele a week agOj has not returned. May 30. Soufriere, in St. Vincent, continues in eruption, hough the last violent outbreak occurred on the 18th. j 1 • June 1. Professor Kennan Hill, of the United , States Geolpgical Survey Office, approached within a mile .and a-half of Mont Pele, returning safely. He was^ terribly alarmed, and struck with the remarkable and unique character of the phenomena-, differing, as it did widely from .any previous volcanic experience. A large section of Mont Pele's side had disappeared, leaving four immense cavities. June 2. The deputy-mayor of St. Pierre escaped an hour before the first catastrophe. He says the earthquake made fissures reaching to the sea. The contact of the water with the burning lava caused Mont Pele to explode like an overheated-boiler. LONDON, May 28. An earthquake shock was experienced at Corfu. Snow permeated with ashes fell at Lucerne. May 29. Tremendous explosions, accompanied by clouds of black smoke, were heard from Mont Pele on Monday and Tuesday. There is a renewed panic at Fort de France. • May 30. The Lord Mayor's West Indies relief fund nas reached £49,000, and the Martinique fund started in Paris -£56,000. June 1. Sulphurous gas .is escaping from Mount Trabocchetto, between Genoa aud Nice, which has been quiescent for centuries. Cattle refuse to graze on the

slopes. A slight movement of -'thV. ground is observed. Flames and ashes are" issuing" front. Mount Redoubt, Alaska. - PARIS, May. 28. The French Chambers have been asketf to vote half a million .francs, (about £20,000) for the Martinique sufferers. THE HAGUE, May 559.Queen Wilhelmina has given J.uos marks to the St. Vincent -relief fund. ROME, May 27. The passengers on the Milan tra,mear< are invited to purchase an additional penny ticket to -id, the sufterers in. Martinique and St. Vincent. Six. hun.doeed pounds, was, /thus /raised, in one evening. ■ • ~ _ MELBOURNE* May 28. In the Senate," Senator O'Connor stated that the Government wer© unable to grant or ask Parliament to grant assistance to .the sufferers by the Martinique and St. Vincent disasters. I SYDNEY, May 28. ' A meeting convened by the Consulgeneral of France and the mayor. ' adopted a resolution of sympathy with, the sufferers by the Martinique and St. Vincent disasters, and appointed a committee to collect funds. The municipali-. ties throughout the State will "he asked to assist the movement.