There is considerable activity in province, deepening and straightening rivers. In the Eastern part of Shen-chou (AEM) a now canal or river is being ent for 10 miles erse to send the waters of the P'u-t'ao river (wrongly used for Eton back into their old channel at Hsiao-fan (APY). This will, it is hoped, relieve thousands of acres rendered useless by floods in Ho-chien Fu (JR fi if) and Pa-chou (pH). That is being done by hired workmen. North of Pao-ting Fu about 10 miles is the Ts'ao river (ES AI.) This is to be opened up or worked over, and the soldiers, cavalry and infantry, are ordered from here to do the work, Every man brings his own shovel and they start off to-morrow morning.
Four or five now dredges were ordered by the Viceroy last summer, and probably they are on the rivers ere this, The wheat is coming languidly on. There is a scarcity of moisture all through the province. No rain since last fall, and none sufficient to wet the soil.
2ist April, There is a kind of mission here from Corea on the way to Tientsin and probably Peking. One of the Coreans is a Minister Extraordinary, The object, on dit, is to lay before the Chinese Government the plaint that the Russians have actually marched into and taken possession of a portion of Cores, I suppose the Coreans look to China for protection. We into the Forbidden Country now. there ino danger if foreigners choose 4th May.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.