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HALIFAX DISASTER RECORD OFFICE
ARCHIBALD MACMECHAN, F. R. S. C.
DIRECTOR
HALIFAX, N. S.

mittee and the owners have been exceedingly grateful for the care exercised over their few remaining belongings.
Halifax is deeply indebted to the Massachusetts S. P. C. A. who sent Messrs. Pearson and Nowlin to assist in the work of rescue and cooperation with the local agents. These agents labored night and day for two weeks. Their services were recognized by the Governor of the Province in a presentation made to them at the Government House on the eve of their departure for Boston. Generous financial contributions also came from Boston and other cities of the United States and Canada, the total received to date being about $3,500.
Small grocerymen, milkmen, truckmen lost their all. it is a time when help should be given by assisting in the temporary feeding of the animals upon which the owners depend for a livelihood. For instance, to-day, one of the many cases, a young man called at the office asking for an order for roofing material for his barn. On investigation it was found that he had lost his father, mother, wife, two children, house and one horse in the explosion and fire. Still he was bravely trying to make a living and we gladly gave him an order for 1 bag of oats, 1 bag of bran, 2 bales of hay, 1 bale of straw. There are many hundreds of such sufferers and it may be safely said that there has been no case of imposition.
The force of the explosion was felt by the breaking of glass one hundred miles from Halifax. The roofs of barns in the city were torn off and damaged and the sides shattered. The necessity of protecting the animals was impressed on the general executive of the relief organization and the matter of remedying the barns was placed in the hands of the Animal Relief Committee, which appointed a special agent to visit the barns with a gang of carpenters. The work of repairing the hundreds of barns is slowly but surely progressing.
As in the children's work so in the problem if aiding the animals, the existence of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty has proven to be an invaluable asset to this community in time of disaster. The Animal Relief Committee was a rounding up of the relief work and it prevented an incalculable amount of suffering which otherwise would have been overlooked during the time of stress and strain. The work could not have been effectively carried out were it not for the knowledge and inspiration gained by the workers in their anticruelty endeavors and it is still being conducted with much enthusiasm, as the local humanitarians feel that they have the sincere and practical sympathy of the friends of dumb animals throughout America.

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MG 1 vol 2124 number 294c