Yesterday afternoon about four o'el ok the roof of houses Nos, 22 and 23, Praya West, suddenly collapsed and, carrying the lower portions of the buildings with it completely demolished the premises, which were used as elfices of the China Merchants' Siwam Navigation Company. The time of the catastrophe was near the hour of clusi and as far as the police can discover there were only tivo persons then in the place. One, the son of the manager, who was acting as clerk, was evidently' killed stantaneously aa his body was afterwards Aiscnvered amid the debris, nud although the marks upon it were few it appeared as if the neck had been broken. The other person in the house at the tine cunlie, who received x trivial cut head and immediately made the b his way home, Che occurrence natui ocexsioned much excitement in the neigh-Dourhood and information was at once conveyed to the police. A party of constables under Chief Inspector Mathieson proceeded to the scene and commenced energetically to remove the overlying mass of material. They found the body above stated and it was conveyed to the mortuary. The deceased's name was Cheung Hok Cheung, age 26. The cause of the collapse is not known, but as the houses were very old and probably were not too well built originally, it is likely that the recent heavy rains have precipitated the effect of the ravages of which ants and general decay. An enquiry will be held in a day or two, Had the fall occurred an hour before twenty or thirty people would have been on the premises and the calamity "would doubtless have been much more serious.—Duily Press, 2st June,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.