NEWS OF THE • 'WEEK
• __„, _ • nplIE news from Kingston shows an improvement in the genetal situation. Slight shocks of earthquake continue, but though three thousand persons are still homeless, and the majority of the population are living in outhouses or uninjured portions of their houses, the Governor reports that" the good conduct of. the refugees is conspicuous,", and that employment is plentiful at good wages. The Indefatigable 'and 'Brilliant ' arrived on the 21st and 22nd, and the French cruiser '13:16ber,' the-Haytian Government steamer Aviso; and the 'Advance' from panama on the latter date,-all bringing stores and relief. The loss of life unhappily is larger than was at first estimated, the total being now given at seven hundred and fifty ; but there seems no foundation for the alarmist rumours of extensive alterations in the coast-line, and the destruction of the poorer quarters of Kingston, if funds can be allocated for re- building them on sanitary principles, may prove a blessing in disguise. The response to the . appeal for help has been -prompt and generous, and the Mansion House • Fund has al:patty reached £30,000. Meantime an unfortunate contretemps—we cannot regard it as anything• more—has
. .
arisen out of the action of the United States .Government in sending three ships-of-war to render assistance to the flutterers from the earthquake. Rear-Admiral Davis—a distingniabed officer who represented the United States on the North • Sea Inquiry—bad landed Marines and was taking' an active Part in ' relief *measures; when the Governor, Sir Alexander Swettenham, declined his further assistance, and adopted an attitude- which 'left the American
Admiral no alternative but to withdraw. . .
Previous page
