The magnitude of the disaster and the grave extent of the loss and suffering that have resulted from it are being indicated in the cable messages, fragmentary though they are, which are reaching us from the stricken city. The latest reports show that 1200 persons are known to have been killed, that other 2000, whose fate can scarcely be a matter of conjecture, are missing, that 8000 have been injured, and that 25,000 persons have been rendered homeless - a condition which implies that they have lost all their belongings. The damage to property is estimated at five millions sterling.
Halifax is a city that is not equal in size to Dunedin, its population being less than 50,000. The cabled figures show, therefore, that more than half of its inhabitants have been directly affected by the disaster.
The need for help must be great and urgent. We hope that, if the subscriptions to the fund which we are opening are as generous as we anticipate, it may be possible to cable a substantial sum this week.
Jerusalem captured
News of the fall of Jerusalem was announced to-day by the Prime Minister in a speech at the opening of the East Coast Freezing Works, and the announcement was received by a large number of people with loud applause and cheers.
Jerusalem, Mr Massey said, had been taken and re-taken many times during the past 2000 years, but he trusted, now that it had been captured from the Turks by the British troops, that the Sacred City would remain in possession of the British nations. - (Hear, hear.) The New Zealand troops had taken no unimportant part in the operations leading to the capture of Jerusalem.
North Road damage
In reporting on the progress of works in connection with the repairs on the Main North road to the Otago Motor Club last evening, the engineer (Mr Couston) said that the contract for the supply and delivery of 750 cubic yards of metal between the Upper Junction and the water trough had been completed, and the metal was all blinded and well trafficked with the drays. In spite of his requests, however, the users of the road were not giving the newly-laid metal a chance to consolidate. He was sorry to have to report the matter when the Motor Club was contributing so liberally towards the work, but the cost of spreading metal and blinding had been nearly doubled by the excessive speed at which motors were driven, and, with some drivers, the safety of the men working on the road had not been considered.
Otira tunnel progress
An Ashburton resident, who has just returned from the West Coast, states that good progress is being made with the tunnel at the Otira. The engineer informed him that only about 28 chains of the hill still remained to be pierced. The boring operations are being conducted in two drives, one being overhead. The tunnel is perfectly dry and workmen are not hampered. - ODT, 12.12.1917.
