_ 45 — 



hospitable native land, and only a few of them, clinging lovingly to 

 the soil upon which they were born, have established miserable new 

 dwellings for themselves in huts made of branches or boards. 



In the early morn of 28 th December 1908 a terrific earthquake, 

 the centre of which happened to be exactly within the sphere of the 

 Straits of Messina, destroyed this beautiful region. At the very first 

 shock, all that had been built up by the inhabitants in the course of 

 centuries of endeavour, was almost levelled to the ground in the 

 short space of a few seconds, and more than half of the population 

 was swept away by the terrible forces of Nature. 



Messina and Reggio have been completely destroyed; in neither 

 town a single house is left standing which affords safe shelter to its 

 inhabitants. Both cities were the offspring of ancient Greek culture; 

 in former ages both were the emporia of the World's commerce of 

 those days; and although in the course of the centuries they had 

 gradually lost their international commercial pre-eminence, yet a 

 flourishing traffic had been maintained in both places, especially 

 in Messina, up to the present day. Among its other branches of 

 trade, Messina — as is well known — held the chief place in 

 the export of Sicilian and Calabrian essential oils. From 40 to 50 

 commercial firms, all possessing more or less capital, had gradually 

 devoted themselves to this branch of business. Messina and Reggio 

 supplied the whole world with the produce of the essential oil factories 

 of Sicily and Calabria. It is therefore only natural that the earth- 

 quake of 28 th December 1908 and the total destruction of Messina 

 and Reggio, as well as of all the villages encircling the Straits which 

 that calamity carried in its train, will bring about wide-spread changes 

 in the commercial conditions of these essential oils. 



Of the 40 or 50 commercial firms which devoted themselves to 

 the essential oil trade, scarcely one -half is in existence at the present 

 time, and these firms, if able to carry on business at all, will not be 

 in a position to remain located in Messina, as the entire city is un- 

 inhabitable, and as, moreover, owing to the cessation of the general 

 movement of trade in the port, opportunities for shipping goods to 

 all parts of the world will in future be rare. It follows that within 

 the next few years the essential oil trade will first of all transplant 

 itself to the neighbouring towns of Catania and Palermo. But if the 

 rebuilding of Messina, contrary to expectation, should be accomplished 

 more quickly than is believed to be probable at the present time, 

 there can be no doubt that the leading forces of the essential oil 

 trade will again concentrate in this city, favoured as it is by its 

 geographical situation and its excellent harbour. 



With regard to the market position before and since the earth- 

 quake, the following is to be stated. 



