The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-09-29 00:00:00

DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT HADJIN.

The Rev. T. W. Brown, of the Turkish Missions'
Aid Society, forwards to The Times the following ex-
tract from a letter just received from Messrs. Earn.
worth and Bartlett, of the American Mission in
Central Turkey, describing a great calamity by fire.
Hadjin is situated north of Mount Taurus, and the
pitiable condition of the bulk of the people is fitted to
call forth sympathy and help :

" Hadjin, August 25, 1883.

_
"Six weeks ago this city suffered from a very de-
structive fire. According to the Government record,
a little less than half. the town was destroyed. The
number of families burnt out is reported as 1.507. The
fire was in the heart of the towr, and nearly all the
shops were burnt. The highest officials affirm that
more than 300 shops or stores were destroyed, and
that what few are left are out of the way and un-
important.
"The amount of property destroyed may not seem
very much when measured by the standard of richer
peoples, but it is the all of nearly 8,000 persons. It
has been stated that the number was 6,000, hilt this is
much too small. A reasonable estimate makes their
total loss £300,000. In a land where a common day
labourer can get only 12 to 20 cents a day, and can
only get that a part of the time, this is a very large
BUM.

" The present condition of these persons is more
comfortable than could have been expected. Their
more fortunate neighbours have received them into
their houses, their woodsheds, their barns (places for
storing straw), and their stables, so that, for the time
being, all are sheltered. But nearly all of these places
are unfit for the cold season, and besides, the owners
need them, as winter approaches, for their own use.
"According to modern regulations of the Empire,
the burnt district will be surveyed and laid out with
respectable streets, and not more than 3CO houses can
be built where 1,507 families lived. This will he
understood when it is known that all the streets were
very narrow, some of them not more than four feet
wide, and that the houses, if not literally built one on
the top of another, were so constructed that, in many
cases, the roof of one served for the yard of another.
" As there is not room to build, emigration is a
recessity. There is a fine tract of country lying on
the main thoroughfare between Marash and Cesarea,
about 25 miles north of Hadjin, well watered, well
wpoded, and possessing a very fine climate, 89 it is
4,500 ft. higher than the sea, and 1,300 ft. higher than
Hadjm. ' There it is proposed to build a large town,
several of the leading men of the place, including
both Protestants and Armenians, are heartily in
favour of the plan. The local government, too, seems
anxious to do all that it can to help on the matter.
Hundreds of families are anxious to jlin in the enter-
prise. This will relieve the town of its surplus popu-
lation, and those who migrate will, with little help, be
able to furnish themselves with new dwellings,

"But wh%tever these people may do, their necessi-
ties are great and pressing. It is said that there are
not 50 fa-a ilies who can build without help. It is
safe to say that help at an average of £5 ought to be
given to each of 1,500 families, making £7,500."