The new Governor of Shensi, Lu Ch'uanlin, submits report upon the state of the Yellow River within his jurisdiction, and the measures which he proposes to take for the conservancy of it and other waterways. The Yellow River, he observes, forms the boundary of the province on the northest; above Lung Men it runs through mountain gorges, but the lower part of its course in Shensi is on comparatively level ground. The district of Ch'aoyi in the fecture of T'ungchow borders upon the river on the east, while its western portion contains the source of the River Lo, which runs southward and joins the Wei, From old topographical authorities, it appears that during the Ming dynasty the two rivers were separated from each other by a large tract of country. In the reign of Wan Li a breach occurred in the Yellow River at Tach'ingkuan, and ever since that time its course has been gradually taking more westerly direction, while that of the Lo River has similarly altered towards the east, reducing the distance between the two until in some places the intervening pave urily meanuree Wen ur Uwetily Chinese feet. Wedged in between the two are a nuniber of villages which suffer from peri cal inundations and the preservation of which has constituted a problem with successive Governors, Forty years ago a canal was dug to the east of the Yellow to drain off a portion of its waters, but it became silted up and the outlay expended upon it was entirely thrown awa: Since then, the silages have been exempted from land-tax but their situation is daily becoming more critical, The waters of the Yellow River ave two feet higher than those of the Lo River, and if allowed to flow into the other will deflect its current and cause an inundation the results of which can scarcely be conceived. Shen has never hitherto had any trouble with her rivers and there is consequently in this province an absence of men who have any special knowledge of that subject. The Governor accordingly wrote to the Director-General of the Yellow River and applied for the services of a few experts. The latter sent one officer and four men who made a minute inyestigation of the circumstances and advised the construction of a number of breakwaters and the excavation of a canal to draw away a portion of the waters of the Lo River. Millet stalks not being avail able in the province, the breakwaters will be constructed of bricks, which are thought to be more durable. The total cost of the contemplated work is estimated at Tis, 60,000, The revenues of the province do indeed show a slight surplus every year, but this will be absorbed by the recent increase inthe pay of the soldiers and there are no local funds available to meet the proposed outlay, which, the Governor suggests, might be defrayed' in the following way. Two years ago, the provinces of Shensi and Kansu lent a sum of Tls. 600,000 to Honan, Kiangsu and Anhui. for famine relief purposes, of which Tls. 200,000 were last year repaid and employed in the construction of telegraph lines in the province. The remaining Ts. 400,000, half of which belongs to Shensi, was, it' was arranged, to be repaid in annual instalments spread over a period of four years, unless some urgent demand for funds arose in the provinces that made the loan, in which case the period was to be shortened. The Gov-enor now proposes that the repayment should be made in three instalments, the first of which is to be forwarded during the present year, and that Shensi's portion thereof, Tls. 66,000 or thereabouts, should be applied to carrying out the work which has been recommended.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.