DISASTER IN JAPAN.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 September 1923, Page 5

DISASTER IN JAPAN.

ORDER BEING RESTORED. PLENTY OF FOOD. CARING FOR THE WOUNDED. HALF A MILLION REFUGEES. By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received Sept. 7, 9.35 p.m. New York, Sept. 6. The Osaka correspondent of the New York Times says order in Tokio and Yokohama is gradually being restored, but 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 riceball. Parents wander about the streets calling the names of their lost children, while others are carrying placards with names written on them. The troops are constructing shacks, of which the Government has decided to build twelve thousand. Profiteering is severely punished when discovered, but enormously high prices are being paid for food. There is a great shortage of petrol, and motor traffic has almost ceased. Fears of a financial collapse in Japan were at first entertained, but they are not borne out. Received Sept. 7. 8 p.m. Osaka, Sept. 5. Supplies are now reaching Tokio in large quantities and the danger of starvation is over.

National attention is focussed on meetings of the emergency Cabinet, which are held twice daily. Yesterday it was decided to care for fifteen thousand wounded in the army barracks. The nearest city (Chiba) prefecture is erecting tents and barracks for troops, which are eating biscuit rations, and supplying fifty thousand homeless with army biscuits. The governor of Nagano, whence comes ninety per cent, of the silk, telegraphed to the Kobe Chamber of Commerce 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 for 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 holders. They state the premiums 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.—Sun Service. HALF A MILLION DEAD. RAIN EXTINGUISHES FIRES. FIRES ALARM NATIVES. COLLAPSE OF CROWDED BRIDGE. Received Sept. 7, 11.25 p.m. New York, Sept. 6. The Iwaki 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 steam 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 Imperial Palace grounds until rebuilding can begin. Meantime, the first connected story of the disaster has become available. Immediately following the first ’quake fires started in fifteen places simultaneously and thousands of alarmed natives rushes towards the river, crowding on to a bridge, which collapsed under the weight, causing many to drown. As Saturday and Sunday passed the firea continued and the smell of burned human flesh permeated the air. CABINET INSTALLATION. DURING FIRE AND ’QUAKE. PEOPLE AFRAID TO SLEEP. Received Sept. 7.35 p.m. Tokio, Sept. 7. A most dramatic installation of the Japanese Premier took place on the lawn in front of thd Akasaka Palace, while the fire was raging and the earth trembling with recurrent shocks. The party dared not enter the palace, owing to the clanger of its collapse, but, in the presence of the Prince Regent, the Premier (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 youth? walk the streets carrying big Japanese swords aiding the police in the relief work and assisting in the search for and identificaton 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-ing ’quake. Only complete exhaustion, has stilled the wandering throng, which, otherwise, continue their endless pilgrimage in seeking to escape. ESTIMATE OF THE LOSSES. 30,000 DEAD IN TOKIO. By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. San Francisco, Sept. 6. A radiogram from the Japanese Home Ministry estimates the losses in Tokio as follows.*— Killed rs- 30,000 Injured 100,000 Buildings destroyed .... 350,000 The Ministry also confirms the report of the total destruction of Yokohama, but declares that Prince Sainonji is safe, although his villa was destroyed.