The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-12-16 00:00:00

THE CYCLONE IN BENGAL.

It is stated, In a letter from Calcutta to The Times,
that the Lieutenant-Governor has returned from
Backergunge and Noakholly, whither he had hastened
on hearing of the terrible storm of the 31st October,
and that one of his party has come to the conclusym,
after carefully examining the reports from the various
police sections, that there cannot have been less than
215,000 lives lost. The cyclone appears to have had
Its origin somewhere in the eastern portion of the
Bay! of Bengal, probably a little to the north of
the 'Andamans. Proceeding in a northerly direc-
tion,! it first struck the land at the Island of Sun-
deepi and on the coast of Chittagong, and about
midnight of the 31st October, and without warning
of any kind, the three islands of ll,khin Shahabaz-
pore Hattlah, and Sundeep, containing a population of
over 340,000, were entirely submerged. A number of
the inhabitants, startled from their sleep took refuge
In the trees, which most fortunately surrounded every
village, and they alone were saved. Many unable to
reached the trees climbed on to the roofs of their
houses. There they found only temporary safety, for
the water, rushing into the houses to the depth of 20
feet, ;soon burst off the roofs, and the receding waves
carried thenlout to sea,. with the. unhappy wretches
AM clieging to them. - Some few of the people of
Sundeep were drifted on roo( or planks across the
ehan el to the mainland, a distance of ten miles.
'Ever soul who Was caught by the water before be had
mad , for a tree or a roof was drowned at once; and it
Is haedly an exaggeration to say that the early morn-
ing cif the let saw all the survivors of the population
Of
,the three islands, as well as of the seaboard of the
)inix.,itimainl§pd, pereped in the trees which alone
4aluccr visibltr above the water. An outbreak
epidemic disease is what is now moat to
be feared, and it is said that cholera has already made
its appearance at Noakholly. Seeing that the dead
bodies of men and cattle, and abri4 of all kinds, are

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scattered over the country, it seems likely that the
disease may spread to Backergunge, Chittagong, ill
other districts. Among the other Inconveniences suf-
fered by the people is the loss of all their boats—no
slight calamity in the Gangetic delta—where wheeled
donveyances are unknown. The cattle, too, have been
almost all ewept away. Society was, for a time at
least, utterly disorganieei. The police were drowned
nl.r.c3t; to !,r. 3r`d tr.e.t of the civil officers on the
iii:;nds—all of them natives—perished. The details
i7hich have now come to hand show that the cyclone
did infinitely more damage to life, and, perhaps, to
property too, than any other etorm that has been
known in India within living memory.

,
MR. DOD SON, fit P 9 ON EDUCATIO .
The ninth annual meetingig _the Chester British School
-
Association was bald on Monday night at Chaster, Mr. J. G.
kßodson, M.P., presiding :
i The Chairman said he had no doubt that if they had
id compulsion in operation for some time past the
..attendsuace at sohoole -ia-lisioity would-be greater-
than it was in the present day. However, he be-
lieved that in a few weeks there would be a triple
machinery of compulsion in operslion. By an Act'of
tre D 0 jeition it was made a duty of every parent to
ow& education for his child, and it would be mourn-
bent upqn local authorities to see to the peformance of
tlia
ht
-duty. The Act aleo enacted indirect compAlsion,
and made it a duty upon parochial authorities to see
thaknoemployer of labour should employ a child ex-
cept in compliance with the educational conditions of
he-Act ; and thirdly, the Act gaxe to a committee of
a town -council 'power to make bye-14s and to exer-
cise compulsion._ He had before expressed his decided
reference for direct over indirect compuldion. He
eed not say that direct compulsion was a very great
power, and that it must be exercised with very great
tact and discretion. However' if the flow of liberality
in Chester should at any time fall off or be unable to
keep Dace with the requirements of-education, then it
7otild be necessary to resort to the rates for the support
of schools (cheers). He knew there were many who
considered that the great majority Of schools should be
maintained out of the rains, and be in the hands of
-‘nagers directly responsible to the public. To those
-id those views he would say, "Take patience;
on your side." He thought this might be
admttted from general reasoning, but they also had a
striking- instance -of- the progress of rate supported
schopls in public favour in the result of the recent
School Board elections in London.