Melbourne, Oct. 10.
The subject of. the Japanese earthquake is revived in the minds of many who had almost forgotten it by the publication this week of photographs from the scenes of desolation Information has also been received that a few Aus—tralians, mostly men or women who had taken up their residence in Japan, are either missing or proved to have perished. News of the arrival of the first Australian relief ship has come to hand, but at the same time there are reports that either the food supplies have been too great or the Japanese authorities unable to distribute them, satisfactorily and quickly, The result, we are told by cable, is that tons of foodstuffs are rotting. This may possibly account for The slackening off of subscriptions, but the enthusiasm to help has about evaporated. So far, apart from the Commonwealth contributions in money and material, the public has subscribed about £100,000, and one-half of this has been collected by the Melbourne "Argus,"—the leading morning daily. This obviously leaves comparatively little for the other capitals and big newspapers, which invited subscriptions. The enation seems to be that the Argus" has acquired a reputation for making fewer mistakes than most, and has thus become the popular collector where public benefactions are concerned. Yet, as I hinted last time I wrote, there may be other explanations.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.