The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-29
THE PANAMA CANAL xVIH--REBUILDINC KINGSTON. JAMAICA
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By Fredric J. Haskin.


 Kingston. Jamaica. July 2s.---sout of the ruins and the ashes of the terrible earthquake and the devastating Ire or January t4. 1907, there is arising new and more beautiful Kingston than ever stood at the southern side Of the fair Island of Jamaica. but 1t rises slowly. While less extensive than our own great San Francisco horror, the destruction of the business portion of the city was, nevertheless. such blow that 1t has been a hard task for the city to rally from it. The people of Kingston are not used to facing great problems: they are not accustomed to handling serious situations. The trop- ical climate. the easy ways of getting a livelihood or q competence, the com paratfve smaiIness of the business the average man handles. makes the white Jamaican stranger to such strenuous things as come to thousands of Amert- cans every day. Add to this the fact that practically all the real work of rebuilding must be done by negroes who have been used only to manual la- bor---the carrying of coal into calling ship, the handling of bananas and oth- CT fruits for the United Fruit Company and one will begin to understand why the process of rebuilding and rehabiii- tation is slow.
 Then. too. the people are suffering the disadvantage of not FealtEizng On their insurance. Unlike the American iusu- rance companies wtiich paid the earth quake losses at San Francisco without question. waiving the technical point as to whether the fire was preceded by the earthquake or not. the British cofll- paniss insuring Kingston property re- fused to pay the losses. They claimed that their policies contained an earth quake exemption clause which applied in the Kingston case. They finally agreed that the policy-holders should be allowed six months in which to bring actions at law. It was mutually agreed between insurers and incurred that there should be four test eases. covering all the principles involved In all the pending claims. Barristers from England were brought over and merry legal war began.
 Two cases were heard. The first was a simple one and was promptly decided in favor of the policy y-holders. The second involved the question of whether the fire which started in King Street, and which developed Into the general oonfagration, was pre-earth- quake fire or not. After hearing conn pFehansive testimony on the question the jury decided that 1t was, and that the policy-holders were entitled to re- cover the f0il amounts of their several policies After these cases were heard 1t was agreed that the others should be postponed and that the ones already heard should be expedited in the Su- prema Court of the island. In this court there was a divided opinion. but the decision was again in favor of the policy -h olders. The matter was then taken to England and the decision of the Jamaican courts reversed. The whole question is now before the court of last resort of the United Kingdom. and 1t Is believed here that the KinEs- ton poliey-holders stand a good show to lose all of their insurance. which will delay the final restoration of the city for many years.
 The Ire left the city in such shape that the Legislative Council of the is- land had to appeal to the mother coun- try for aid. In resolution unant- mously passed 1t was set forth that without Imperial aid 1t would be im- possible to restore the city of Kings ton and lower St. Andrew. An earn est appeal was made to the British government and 1t resulted In free grant of $75o. .00o and loan of about s4,oo0.0o0, This latter loan has been placed in the hands of a loan board, and is being administered as llberaily as safe business principles will admit
 There are evidences of calamity on every hand. Hundreds of homes stu etand as tne eafthQuakc leAt tbSfAf some of them partially shaken down. and others as fiat on the ground as brick. mortar, and other debris can lie. Tn the business section the work Is proceeding slowly. attention being given first to the erection of business houses. The churches. the theatre, and most of the public buildings have not been repaired or rebuilt yet. AS they are getting the more urgent work out of the way these will be given att tention. The paFish church stands in about the same condition the earth quake left 1t. and the theatre. origin ally about the finest building on the is- land. iS still path etic ruin.
 As far as possible the buildings are being made earthquake-proof. Some of them have thick walls of brick and stone for the first story, but the sec- ond stories is usually of well-braced. reinforced concrete or frame conStrue- tion. None of the houses In the heart of the city are being built over two stories high. There is an occasional house using iron and steel framework