Signor do Filippi, who estimates the number rescued, out of
a population of a hundred and thirty thousand, at three thousand, regards the talk of rebuilding Messina as premature, as the ruins cannot be properly cleared away for two or three years. The immediate problem concerns the survivors, many of whom are little children left nameless, unprotected, and unable to establish their claims to abundant means. In this context we may note the formation, under the patronage of Queen Elena, of the "National Society for the Protection of Children Orphaned by the Earthquake," which will be the permanent legal guardian of all such children, and take all legal steps to identify them, recover their property, protect their interests, and provide for their maintenance and education during their minority. Foreigners are eligible for membership, and can obtain information from the Countess Pasolini, Palazzo Sciarra, Rome. In Friday's Times the Rome correspondent states that the British Military Attache pays a high tribute to the admirable work of rescue done by the Italian Army and Navy. He and all the British officers in the earthquake district resent the unjust criticisms which have been levelled against them, chiefly by Italiau politicians. f he Times special correspondent in the same issue says that at Pahni in 1905 a number of houses were built on the reinforced concrete system, but iron girders were not used, and the muses have collapsed. In Messina, how- ever, there is a house which was built by a doctor on the reinforced concrete system with iron girders, and it still stands. We have no doubt that in future the closest attention will be paid to the principles of building in districts notoriously subject to earthquake.
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