KING’S PROFOUND SYMPATHY.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18512, 8 March 1930, Page 17 (Supplement)

KING’S PROFOUND SYMPATHY.

Message To French People.

DEPLORABLE LOSS OF LIFE. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 6. The King has sent the following telegram to the French President: — “I have learned with deepest concern of the disastrous inundations which have desolated such wide areas in the south and south-west of France, and hasten to express to you Monsieur le President, my profound sympathy with the victims, and particularly with those who have suffered bereavement through the deplorable loss of life, which this calamity has caused.” The British Ambassador in Paris has also conveyed the deep sympathy of the British Government to the French Government.

TEN THOUSAND HOMELESS. RESCUE EFFORTS APPLAUDED. (United Press Association—By Electrlo Telegraph—Copyright.) PARIS, March 6. The death roll is estimated to be in the vicinity of 700, and at least 10,000 people are homeless. Flood devastation continues throughout the south-west. A family of seven were found dead beneath the ruins of their home. A peasant, seeing his house collapse, whipped out a revolver and committeed suicide before horrified spectators could prevent him. A husband and wife were clinging to the branches of a tree together, when their strength failed and they dropped into the flood. The population eulogise the Senegalese soldiers for their magnificent rescuing work, some remaining for thirty-six hours in the chilly waters. Two German youths are credited with saving more than 100 persons. A group of cavalrymen set out to rescue screaming children who were marooned on a rapidly vanishing island. They met disaster and three horses and riders were drowned.

DEATH ROLL INCREASING. PEOPLES’ TRAGIC EXPERIENCE. (United P-ess Association—By Electrlo Telegraph—Copyright.) (Received, March 7, 11.30 p.m.) PARIS, March 6. It is estimated that 500 houses have been carried off. The Moissac countryside is littered with debris and furniture. At least 10,000 are homeless in the flood area. Aeroplanes rescued sixteen men ’immersed at Saintrafrice, for forty-eight hours. The death 101 l at Moissac, which was 200 might have been higher, but most people were at Hagenbacks’ Circus; otherwise they would have been trapped in the beds. The Market Place -'s now an encampment for the Circus animals. A shocking story is told of one villager who clutched two small children and climbed to the top of a wall and was obliged to watch helpless while four others of the family, including his wife were swept off by the flood. A weeping mud-stained women was seen pushing a barrow piled up with furniture and clothes. Asked where she was going she replied, “Anywhere. I do not care. My husband has been drowned. and. my child was in his arms.” A wealthy youth was drowned, after he ‘ had helped over a hundred to escape from their homes The Minister of Public Works pinned a ribbon of the Legion of Honour on the dead youth’s breast at the hospital. It is impossible to estimate the total death roll until the end of the week, as bodies are continually being found in the ruins of the houses.