298
of which, however, some had no doubt been received from
the Police. 1,346 people had up to the 4th been reported
as missing. About 2,500 are thus accounted for but judging
from the number of native craft reported wrecked this can
only be a fraction of the total loss which I believe to
have been certainly over 5,000. For days after the calamity
arriving ships reported seeing numbers of dead bodies out
at sea and decomposed corpses are still being thrown up
on the shores of the Colony.
The number of persons drowned can
only be estimated with any approach to accuracy when it
has been ascertained approximately the number of junks,
sampans, etc., of the different classes, have been lost.
The quinquennial census, to be taken shortly, will serve
to check this calculation as the number of the boat
population is believed to have been stationary for some
years past.
Relief Measures.
38.
In the telegram which I sent on
the evening of the disaster I informed Your Lordship that
I would arrange to afford relief to the sufferers as soon
as possible. From an inspection I had made in the morning
in Victoria just after the worst fury of the storm had
abated