Osaka, Mar. 2.
Almost 500 persons were injured and ten others were killed "s a result of the fire which threatened the obliteration of the town of Hirakata, ¿l kilometres north-east of Osaka yesterday afternoon following an explosion of military gun powder dumps in the suburbs of the town. according to an announcement by the Osaka Prefectural Police today.
Cause of the disaster was attributed to the carelessness of a workman who is believed to have dropped a bomb on the gun powder while Charging the bomb with powder.
More than 800 houses were gutted by the blaze, and 5,800 were homeless, it was reported. Hirakata was a town of 5,950 houses and a population of 27,160.
Prompt measures by one infantry battalion end one engineer's company, together with 1,000 policemen end a fire brigade of 200, rushed from Osaka, succeeded in controlling the fire late last night.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.