2 JANUARY 1909, Page 9

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

TN the region bordering the Straits of Messina, at half-past

five on the morning of Monday, and while it was still dark, an earthquake caused the deaths of some two hundred thousand people, and loft two large cities and many towns and villages a mass of ruins, through which thousands of half-naked and starving people wandered crazy with misery, and terror. That is the news with which the old year closes and the new year begins. It seems probable that when the full tale of loss and suffering is told it will be found that the great earthquake of Christmas, 1908, must be considered one of the greatest calamities produced by natural causes in the history of mankind.