August 3, 1908.]
THE TYPHOON.
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
Naturally the occurrence caused great consterna- tion in the house, which was not decreased by the fact that the place was in darkness, the electric light having been affected, and the wind which now filled the building and threatened to lift the roof made it impossible to keep candles or lamps alight. However, with the aid of obair lamps some light was thrown on the scene, and when the state of affairs was realised efforts were made to rescue Mr. Hunt from his precarious condition. The police and fire brigade staff came to assist and after four hours' digging, fraught with no little danger by reason of the unsupported wall which threatened to fall at any moment, they rescued the unfortunate young man and had him conveyed to the hospital where it was found he had received internal injuries of serious nature: To add to the destruction caused
The
The Typhoon which visited the Colony on Monday night was a more severe one than that of the 18th September 1906, but happily we have not the same lung sad tale of disaster to chroniole. It caused more damage ashore than the 1906 typhoon, but far less afloat. The 1906 typhoon came with less than half an hour's warning about nine o'clock inthe morning when the hundreds of small eraft-the cargo junks and sampang-had just commenced their daily foil in the harbour; and coming upon them so unexpectedly it carried them to speedy destruct tion. Our latest visitant arrived about midnight, at the end of a day which had opened with most welcome return of sunshine after more than a week of wet weather culminating by the collapse itself; the water taok in several serious landships in various parts burst, delaging the rooms underneath. of the Colony which bad endangered the safety water percolated through pillars, walls and of several buildings. There were early indica- ceilings, and unless these were speedily shored tions, however, that the respite was likely to
up it was feared that that portion of the build- be brief, The mid-day Observatory Reporting would collapse in turn. As it is, no fewer mentioned that the barometer was inclined than six rooms are wrecked either with falling to fall on the South Coast of China, debris or water, and the loss resulting must be but at that hour the depression gave no
very great indeed. Numbers of windows were indication of being a severe one. At the blown in, and it is singular that many of them, signalling stations in the harbour the red cone
made of glass about a quarter of an inch thick, and dram, indicating a typhoon to the South
were found on the floors intact. The visitation East of the Colony beyond 30 miles, was
was indeed most disastrous, and great sympathy hoisted about mid-day. Towards evening the
is extended to Mrs. Sachse, who had recently red were replaced by the black signals indicat had the place renovated and improved. ing that the typhoon was within the 300 mile radius. Ships in the harbour took the usual pre- cautions, while the small craft swarmed to the shelter at Causeway Bay. The weather signs became increasingly ominous after that and at 9.30 p.m the Observatory reported that the typhoon appeared to be moving towards the Coast in the neighbourhood of Hongkong. At 11.15 the order was issued to hoist No. 3 night signal and to fire three bombs. The typhoon had reached the Colony, and for upwards of four hours the wind continued to blow with terrifio force.
The centre of the typhoon must have been very near the Colony. The wind commenced to blow from the North and went quickly round to South, South-East and South-West. It was while the wind was south that the storm was at its worst.
The lower level tramway service was disor- ganised by the storm, but repairs were promptly effected and the trams were running before tiffin yesterday. Telephone wires also suffered considerable damage on the higher levels.
His Excellency the Governor has asked to be furnished with a detailed report of the casualties.
IN THE CITY.
THE KING'S BUILDINGS COLLAPSE, Another serious collapse took place at Kings Buildings, where three offices were wrecked, The upper, occupied by Messrs. Jebsen and Company, collapsed, and the whole fell through into Meyer and Company's office, the accumul- stion descending into the Pacifio Mail office. The place is completely wrecked, bat fortunately the occurrence was not attended with any loss
of life.
GENERAL DAMAGE.
Government House was not allowed to escape. Part of the roof gave and the verandah at the eastern end collapsed,
Public buildings suffered rather severely. Viotoria Gaol was unroofed, the warders quarters were similarly damaged, and the roof of the Magistracy has also falled in. The second court was untenable yesterday and Mr. Wood had to conduct the business in the small waiting room. The Fire Station has likewise suffered, and part of the registry at the Supreme Court has been carried away. The Sanitary Board matshed at Wanchai has been destroyed. The Central Police Station has stood the storm very well, only a few windows being smashed and the walls in part denuded of plaster,
At the corner of Bowrington Road, and Praya East the top floor of a Chinese house was lifted clean out by the force of the wind. No casualties are reported. The top part of a house in Morrison Hill occupied by Messrs. R. F. C. Master, Lieut. Beckwith and Mr. P.
With the exception of the disaster at Kings- olere and the collapse at King's Buildings, the damage in the City is not great in individual eases yet the aggregate is very | Hodgson also gave way. A verandah collapsed extensive and the total loss occasioned must be very considerable.
THE COLLAPSE AT KINGSOLERE.
Dealing first with the damage to property, the greatest is perhaps at Kingsclere, where a portion of the beautiful building is in ruins, But what adds to the direful effect of the catastrophe is that it has claimed a European victim, a resident, who though still alive, lies in the hospital in a very critical condition. The cause of the disaster was the collapse of one of the chimneys. It was blown down when the storm was at its height, and crashed through a bedroom in the north-east portion, the débris, in turn, falling down through another apart. ment, tearing down the walls. The occupant of the room, Mr. Hunt, of Messrs. Shewan, Tomes and Company, who has only been in the Colony about three months, apparently rose from his bed to look out, but hearing the ominous noise overhead he divined that some. thing was wrong and immediately sought protection under the bed. Then the crash came. The debris fell on the bed and filled the room, but, singularly enough, though the wreckage broke down the bed the leg which happened to be near his head stood the strain and gave him a chance to breathe. But the weight on his body and legs was great, and he suffered great agony.
at 94 Des Voeux Road, and a dwelling house a little further along collapsed. The Kung Wo Godowns at 163 Connaught Road West also fell in and other godowns in Kennedy. town were damaged in a like manner.
Happy Valley is a scene of, desolation. The matsheds belonging to the Civil Service, Police, Craigengower, and Football Clubs have been levelled to the ground, as also the grand stand, and, the new pavilion of the Golf Club is prac. tically in ruins. Great havoe has been wrought in the Cemeteries, Tomb stones have been blown down; flowers and shrubs and wreaths have been washed away, and great destruction has been wrought.
Speaking generally, there is scarcely a pro- perty in the city that will not need some repair. Jalousies have been wrenched from the walls, windows or parts of them have been smashed, tiles have been torn from the roofs, and walls have been stripped of plaster. The buildings opposite the Supreme Court have been made to look like a ruin; a large portion of the scaffolding at the Law Courts has disappeared, the same description applies to the New Post Office, and not a few military and other matsheds have gone down.
The destruction among trees has been re- markable. Even in Queen's Road numbers were anrooted or denuded of their branches, and in
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more noticeable, Garden Road, Lower Albert Road and other roads in the vicinity were blocked with fallen trees, and Wyndham Street was a mass of debris from fallen tiles and plaster, while branches of treen and fallen wires made the thoroughfare practically impassable. Telephone wires were down all over the city and it will take some time to repair the damage. It is calculated that 390 wires have been broken in Victoria and about 70 or 8) in Kowloon.
In consequence of the general destruction the Public Work Department and Sanitary Board staffs are working late and early, but етед with their redoubled energies and increased staffs, it will take a week at least to clear the streets of the city, which are every- where strewn with blinds, bamboos, tiles, bricks, and other wreckage,
Not a few street lamps were damaged, and last night the puncipal streets were in darkness as the electric wires had been affeosed.
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AT THE PEAK.
The majority of houses at the Peak have suffered to some extent, but we have heard of no serious collapse or extensive damage. A good deal of glass has been broken, covered verandaha and windows &o,, have been blown in, a few out- houses have collapsed and many roofs are badly leaking. It is surprising that the damage is not greater. The wind blew in each terrifio gaste that it seemed to those within that mer. bricks and mortar could not possibly withstand the hammering the houses received. It was a trying experience for the occupants, few of whom could have had the courage to sleep before four o'clock.
At Mountain Lodge, the summer residence of of H.E. the Governor, part of the roof was blown off and considerable damage was done to the stable in the rear. At Mr. Jones Hughes' house "Merion," Mount Austin, the wind blew down a door in the basement and nearly succeeded in lifting out the floor of the room above.
Before the Peak trams could run the line had to be cleared of several tree trunks below the Bowen Road level and the first cars began to run about eight o'clock.
The damage done to trees and shrubs on the Hill is extensive. Several of the fine old trees near the lower Peak tram station and in the Cathedral compound were broken off near the roots by the wind. The road to Headquarter House was blocked completely by fallen trees.
ALONG THE WATERFRONT,
The Star Ferry wharf was destroyed, and yesterday the Kowloon ferries made use of Blake Pier. This pier was also seriously damaged, the iron stanchions sud supports which held up the matshed covering being carried away, while in the vicinity of the pier floated unmanned junks and lightera. The dama- ged piers and floating wreckage between Padder Street and the Harbour office bore witness to the force and fury of the gale. The Harbour Office, fortunately, withstood all the blasts of the typhoon, the only damage done there being the breaking of a few windows, The apper storeys of this office, however, afford- ed a splendid point of vantage to witness the gale, and from one of these windows Mr. A. E. Davey, boarding ofloer, witnessed the storm at its height. He saw junk after junk being helplessly washed into the Prays, and noted that as each vessel made a last bound on to the re- taining wall the orews made a leap for the shore, and generally succeeded in landing. It is esti- mated that twenty junks foundered between the Harbour Office and West Point. The con- servanoy contractor has been again unfortunate in losing all his junks,
The east end of the oity has also its tale of damage and disaster. The breast wall at Arsenal Street has been nearly washed awayi and fourteen cargo boats and sampans, whose venturesome owners should have been within the refuge at Causeway Bay, were smashed
on the Prays wall. A number fot, police and civilians were present when the- occurrence took place, and through their combined efforts fifty of the crew of this mosquito fleet were saved. At the Tung Ta
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